Italian designing duo, Dolce and Gabbana have been sentenced to 20 months in prison after being found guilty for tax evasion by an Italian court.
Openly gay designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have been sentenced to 20 months jail time after being found guilty of tax evasion in Italy.
The duo has not commented on their sentences, which have been suspended pending an appeal.
According to the BBC an investigation by the Italian authorities began around six years ago as part of a crack down by the government on tax avoidance.
The judge at their hearing, which took place on today (19th June), ruled that the designers moved their world famous brand to a Luxembourg-based holding company Gado – which is an anagram of their two surnames.
The judge said they had done this to avoid declaring taxes on royalties of around 1 billion euros £822m.
The pair had already been cleared of the charges at a previous trial in April 2011. However, Italy’s highest court has the power to overturn previous rulings and ordered the case to be retried.
