Dolce and Gabanna sentenced to nearly 2 years jail for tax evasion

[GIVENCHYlover]

What a 'surprise'

 

[Benn98]

Quote:

Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce to Return Ambrogino d'Oro Award

By Cynthia Martens

BEARING A GRUDGE: Back in 2009 — a more innocent time, before “bunga bunga” and “selfies” entered the Italian vernacular — Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce had nice things to say about Milan. That was the year the city presented the fashion designers with its prestigious annual Ambrogino d’Oro award, named for its patron Saint Ambrogio. “Milan is not only our city and where our home is, but also the place that allowed us to make our dream come true,” Gabbana told WWD at the time. “Milan has given us a lot and we cannot be but happy that our work contributed to its well-being.”

But time flies when you’re facing charges of tax evasion, and the love story between the designers known for their Sicilian style and Italy’s fashion capital has long since soured. Last year, Franco D’Alfonso, a city council member, obliquely referred to the duo as “evaders,” and in response, Dolce and Gabbana closed their nine Milanese boutiques for three days out of “indignation,” threatening to return the Ambrogino.

Now, following the Oct. 24 verdict in Italy’s highest court, which found the designers innocent of all charges, Gabbana is not about to bury the hatchet. “We’ll give [the Ambrogino] back as requested,” he posted Oct. 28 on Twitter, subsequently retweeting dozens of supportive messages from fans.

In local media reports, Milan council president Basilio Rizzo has taken offense, saying that returning the Ambrogino five years after receiving it “would only be an act of arrogance toward the city that had honored” the designers, and that “had they wanted to give it back, they should have done so immediately, as a kind of self-protective measure, and now we would have given it back, with our deepest apologies.”

As they say in Sicily, acqua passata 'un macìna mulinu: it’s all water under the bridge.

Source: WWD.com

 

[eizhowa]

^i think thats very dramatic. You just dont get accused of that unless youre guilty

Yes you do. Otherwise there would be no courts. There would just be "accusers" and a bunch of people in jail.


People have taken a very judgmental stand on this matter, based on the comments here. If a case is accepted into the Italian highest court, then it is obviously not an obvious case of tax evasion..."Tax planning" is legal. There is a very fine line between tax evation and planning, and I think very few here on tfs know where to draw it (even roughly). I believe tax appeals make up about +20% of the supreme court cases in my country, every year. Thats how fine a line it is.

People should not be so shocked to see that D&G were found innocent...

 

[Benn98]

Alfonso Dolce Acquitted of Tax Charges
By Luisa Zargani
January 21, 2016

Dolce & Gabbana’s tax woes are over as Alfonso Dolce on Thursday was fully acquitted of tax evasion charges by Milan’s appeals court.

“Finally,” said Dolce’s lawyer Massimo Dinoia, who noted that after almost 10 years the issue “is definitely closed with an unquestionable verdict that does not admit uncertainties: there is no case to answer.”

In October 2014, Italy’s Corte di Cassazione, the country’s highest court, cleared Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, as well as general director Cristiana Ruella, finance director Giuseppe Minoni and accountant Luciano Patelli, as there were no grounds for a case.

The designers were charged with tax evasion totaling 416 million euros, or $533.2 million, related to the 2004 sale of the Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to their Luxembourg-based holding company, Gado Srl, an acronym of their initials and an entity that the Italian tax police considered fabricated to avoid higher corporate taxes in Italy.

The only defendant who could have still seen a trial was Domenico Dolce’s brother, Alfonso Dolce, who at the time was the legal representative of Gado, as his paperwork was being sent back to the appeals court in Milan. The Cassazione, which was called upon to determine if there were any breaches or procedural flaws at the lower court levels, believed “that the criteria used to determine that Gado was a fictitious entity were wrong, but it can’t rule on Alfonso Dolce’s papers, as this is not its role,” explained a legal source at the time.

Dinoia, with his colleague Riccardo Olivo, underscored on Thursday that the appeals court deemed there was no crime and acquitted Alfonso Dolce despite the fact that the statute of limitations in the case expired in November 2014. This certifies the “total legitimacy” of the company’s operations said the lawyers.

Source: http://wwd.com/business-news/legal/alfonso-dolce-acquitted-tax-charges-milan-dolce-gabbana-10323693/

 

[MulletProof]

^ wow.. they played their cards like true drug lords. Guess the supreme court staff will be kicking off the new year with new cars and properties, and of course an endless supply of Dolce & Gabbana..