Marcelo sentenced to four-month prison for tax fraud

Real Madrid defender Marcelo sentenced to four month prison for admission to tax fraud. The Brazilian, however, will not serve jail time.

Real Madrid superstar, Marcelo, has admitted to a four-month suspended prison sentence and will have to pay a fine of £670,000 after admitting to tax fraud.

The decorated left-back is not the only one accused of defrauding Spanish tax departments. Along with him, the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Jose Mourinho were also accused of tax fraud last year.

Madrid’s public prosecutor has revealed that the apparent irregularities occurred due to the involvement of foreign firms handling the image rights of the Brazilian international.

The public prosecutor claimed in his complaint that Marcelo, who joined the Los Blancos back in 2007, used the tax structure of Spain to gain an “illegal fiscal benefit”. The initial case began back in 2013.

And this year, according to Spanish outlet El Mundo, Marcelo had reached a settlement with the tax authorities.

The 30-year-old reportedly came to an agreement for a shorter than anticipated sentence, while having to pay a fine of only 40% of the amount he was accused of defrauding.

Reports suggest that the Brazilian starlet has admitted his guilt, revealing that he loaned his image rights to a Uruguyan firm named as ‘Birsen Trade S.A’. It is reportedly a shell company that “lacks the human and material resources to perform its functions.”

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Regardless of admitting to a four-month prison sentence, the 30-year-old will not be physically inside the prison, with prison sentences lower than two years being suspended for a first offence in Spain.

Reports also confirm that the agreement between Marcelo and the tax authorities will be presented in Madrid at the Court of Instruction of Alcobendas.

Last week, Jose Mourinho also received the suspended prison sentence for similar case.