11 months since Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were found guilty of evading around €400 million (£342 million), the design duo have been condemned once again, this time by the court of appeals in Milan.
espite the case's prosecutors calling for the overturning of the designers' initial 20-month sentence - Gaetano Santamaria argued that if the conviction were upheld it would "run counter to common sense" - a three-judge panel reached its decision today.
Dolce and Gabbana have subsequently been sentenced to 18 months in prison, while Dolce's brother Alfonso, Dolce & Gabbana general director Cristiana Ruella and finance director Giuseppe Minoni were sentenced to one year and two months in jail. However, none of the defendants will spend any time in prison as only sentences of over two years have to be served in Italy.
The designers' lawyer said the ruling would be appealed at Italy's equivalent of the Supreme Court.
In 2004, the Milan Fashion Week designers sold their D&G and Dolce & Gabbana brands to Gado, a holding company in Luxembourg, which prosecutors stated could enable them to avoid a high rate of tax in Italy and pay a lower rate in Luxembourg, thus defrauding the Italian state.
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/olivia-bergin/TMG10799077/Dolce-and-Gabbana-tax-evasion-verdict-upheld-but-they-wont-be-going-to-prison.html