Atletico Madrid footballer pleads guilty to tax fraud

He has been sentenced to six months in prison but will not spend time in jail

Another Real Madrid star faces jail term over tax fraud

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Diego Costa has admitted he defrauded the Spanish state of over €1m by not declaring payments in excess of €5.15m (£4.6m, $5.8m). 

The avoidance happened from 2014, when moved to the UK to play for Chelsea. 

Additionally, he did not declare €1m in image rights. 

ThAtletico Madrid forward was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on 4 June 2020, and was given a fine of €543,208. 

Costa, however, will not serve any jail time as he agreed to pay an additional €36,500 penalty. 

Under Spanish law, an individual is spared imprisonment if the sentence for a non-violent first offence is less than two years, in exchange for a fine. 

Trail of footballers’ fraud 

Diego Costa reached an agreement a few months ago with the prosecutor and has already paid the corresponding fine plus interest, and the request for a prison sentence was withdrawn,” an Atletico Madrid spokesman told news agency Reuters. 

Costa in only one of many footballers who have gotten in the Spanish tax authority’s crosshairs: 

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