Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, founders of the Dolce & Gabbana couture business, were sentenced by an Italian court to a 20-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of approximately $670,000 for tax evasion.
They were found guilty Wednesday of failing to declare 200 million euros, or about $268 million, in income earned by a Luxembourg-based company, to tax authorities in Italy, according to the
They were accused of setting the holding company, Gado Srl, in low-tax Luxembourg to evade Italian taxes. Both Dolce and Gabbana have denied the accusations and plan to appeal their conviction, claiming the charges against them had expired. Their prison sentences have been suspended pending the outcome of their appeals.
A court threw out tax evasion and fraud charges against them two years ago, but Italy’s high court reinstated the tax evasion charges.
Three other defendants in the case were also convicted along with Dolce and Gabbana and given suspended sentences of 16 months, but another defendant was acquitted, according to the AP.
