Dolce and Gabbana sentenced to jail over tax evasion

Fashion icons Dolce & Gabbana were sentenced by an Italian court on Wednesday, June 19, to one year and 8 months’ imprisonment for tax evasion. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were accused of transferring control of their brands to a shell company, Gado, in Luxembourg in 2004 and 2005 to avoid paying taxes in Italy. The amount of taxes they were said to have failed to pay was pegged at US1.33 billion. Prosecutors accused the two designers of setting up Gado, an acronym of their surnames, in an attempt to defraud the Italian state. Lawyers of the designer duo said they will be appealing, resulting in the immediate suspension of the sentence, following Italian law. Founded in 1985, Dolce & Gabbana employs more than 3,000 people and has 250 shops in 40 countries worldwide. Celebrity clients include Beyonce and Madonna.

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