The latest casualty of Europe's berserk pursuit of tax evaders everywhere: not some Russian oligarch with a $1 billion Cypriot bank account but famous Italian designers, Dolce and Gabbana. WSJ reports [3] that a Milan court has convicted the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of tax evasion. The pair were found guilty Wednesday of failing to declare €1 billion ($1.3 billion) in income tax to authorities. The court sentenced them both to one year and eight months in jail.
Prosecutors argued that the pair had evaded taxes on income of €416 million each and €200 million through a Luxembourg-based company. The statute of limitations ran out on a charge of misrepresenting income. The designers have denied the charges.
Two years ago, a judge threw out a tax evasion and fraud case against the pair, whose label Dolce & Gabbana is a Milan fashion mainstay. Italy's high court later ruled the designers could be prosecuted for tax evasion, though not for fraud.
And since this is Italy, we now expect some of this tax evaded cash to be used to grease the local judiciary, earning the duo a deferred prosecution, a little slap on the hand, the loss of some pocket change, and everything going back to normal.