Leading fashion designer Roberto Cavalli has been sentenced to 14 months in jail for tax evasion.
Cavalli, who is close friends with Madonna and Victoria Beckham, was prosecuted after writing off $2.7 million in improvements to his Florence, Italy, villa as business expenses.
The 65-year-old fashion heavyweight insists his palatial home is his studio and showroom and is appealing for the verdict to be reviewed.
Cavalli’s lawyer Alessandro Traversi told the court, “It was fully borne out that the expenses in question were inherent to the work of the business, inasmuch as the designer’s abode was an integral part of his company activity, besides being the prestigious showroom of the company, the place where events are held, photographic shoots conducted etcetera.”
As a first-time offender, Cavalli’s prison sentence has been suspended.
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