“The document asks for an eight year sentencing, and a fine of more than 23 million euros ($23.5 million) if found guilty. A trial date has not yet been set.”
6 thoughts on “Shakira is looking at the possibility of eight years in prison for tax fraud”
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I’ll volunteer to share a cell with her.
Looking into this one, it sounds like so much horseshit. The Spanish government looking for cash. She says she didn’t live there, they’re saying she bought a house there…so she lived there, so they get her income tax.
Because buying a house means you lived there and means you’re entitled to income tax for the entire period.
The threat of jail sounds like an attempt to get her to pay them off in a settlement.
Apparently, if you’re a celebrity, don’t buy property in Spain.
She is totally guilty, but refused the settlement terms.
She definitely lived in Spain at some times during that period. For one thing, her son was born there in 2013, but it’s not just the birth of the son that shows she lived there. The Spanish seem to have her dead to rights. “The prosecution has based its case on reports maintained by the Spanish tax agency, which recorded her visits to hairdressers, beauty salons, the medical clinic she visited while she was pregnant, and a recording studio she rented in Barcelona, to prove that she spent more than 183 days in Spain, the legal requirement that makes her a Spanish tax resident.”
The investigative journalists at El Pais confirmed the government research. There is an absolute mountain of meticulous day-by-day documentation. Moreover, she claimed that her legal residence was in the Bahamas – where she never spent so much as a single day! (Again, read the article in El Pais, which is quite thorough.)
Apparently she has already paid everything she owed, or at least placed it in escrow, so she is not denying that she owed the money.
“The 45-year-old singer said she has paid the tax authorities €17.2m, which the Spanish tax office said she owed, and claimed she has no outstanding debt.”
“Shakira’s Spanish public relations team said earlier this week that the artist has deposited the amount she is said to owe, including 3 million euros in interest.” (She was accused of defrauding the government of 14 million, so I suppose the interest accounted for the 17 million figure listed above.)
Apparently the current area of dispute is not centered around her admission of guilt or her restitution of the back taxes, but rather around the size of the massive fine, which is over and above the restitution and interest. If the government had been willing to waive that fine, the case would already be settled. It is still possible that the case will be settled out of court with a lower fine.
I found the details of the deal she rejected.
(1) She had to make restitution
(2) She had to admit her guilt
(3) She had to pay a fine in addition to restitution
(4) She would be sentenced to two years, with the sentence suspended, provided she admitted her guilt.
Apparently her problem was with #3. She considered the fine unreasonable and larger than her ability to pay it.
Per El Pais:
“A cambio de evitar el ingreso en prisión, Shakira asumiría que cometió los delitos y tendría que pagar una abultada multa. La cantante ha considerado que la propuesta final era inasumible y la ha rechazado frontalmente.”
Translation:
“In exchange for avoiding imprisonment, Shakira would admit that she committed the crimes and would have to pay a hefty fine. The singer considered the final proposal to be unaffordable and rejected it outright.”
this whole Spanish thing going after after celebs is locally well known diversion tactic…
the amount of taxes general spanish public avoids paying is insanely large,
same with Spanish companies/local officials etc…. not going after them with same force if at all.. it’s hilariously pathetic…
That may be true, but she is completely guilty of tax fraud, and has already placed her back taxes in escrow. She did lie about not living in Spain, and her claim to be living in the Bahamas was especially hilarious, since she never set foot in the Bahamas for a moment during those three years!