Of course, he won’t set foot in a prison cell
José Mourinho has accepted a one-year prison sentence on top of a €2m fine for tax fraud as part of a settlement with the Spanish authorities.
However, the former Manchester United manager will not set foot in a prison cell, as it is a first time, non-violent offence and the sentence is smaller than two years.
Instead of spending time behind bars, he will pay an additional €182,500 fine, separate to the aforementioned €2m fine.
Spanish authorities rarely enforce sentences of this nature, as seen in other high profile tax cases involving footballers, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently agreed to pay over €18m to settle a tax fraud case in Spain.
Mourinho’s case stretches back to his time at Real Madrid. He is accused of owing €3.3m to Spanish tax authorities from the 2011-12 season, when Madrid won their only LaLiga title under the Portuguese.
As in Ronaldo’s case, it relates to image rights. Prosecutors have said that Mourinho had created offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands and elsewhere to manage his image rights and hide the earnings from tax officials.
Prosecutors claimed he did this to obscure the extent of his financial gain from image rights deals and that he failed to declare such earnings while working in Spain.
Image rights cover a range of characteristics, including someone’s mannerisms and their voice. Before Mourinho was appointed United boss back in 2016, it emerged that the trademark to his name was owned by his former club Chelsea, which held up the hiring process.
The 56-year-old is the latest of many high profile footballing figures to have worked in Spain to pay a fine and accept a prison sentence as part of a crackdown from Spanish authorities on tax evasion or fraud.
