Fashion designers Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce — aka Dolce & Gabbana (or D&G, if you must) — have been sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for tax evasion of 200 million euros ($282 million).
The duo, who count Beyonce and Madonna among their clients, have also been ordered by a Milanese court to pay a fine of 500,000 euros to Italy's national tax agency. They immediately said they will appeal; under Italian law, this means their sentence will be suspended in the meantime.
The two were accused of transferring control of their brands to a shell company in Luxembourg to avoid paying Italian taxes. Prosecutor Laura Pedio, who had been calling for a sentence of two years and six months, told the court there was "rock-solid proof" they had committed "sophisticated tax fraud".
Dolce's brother Alfonso and three other people were given suspended jail sentences.
"To be accused of something that's not true is not a pretty thing," Gabbana tweeted back in April, "but the heart of the matter is, who cares, we'll all end up in the ground in the end."
Dolce & Gabbana was founded in 1985, and now employs more than 3000 people and has 250 shops in 40 countries.
(Via Herald Sun)
