MADRID (AP) A Spanish state prosecutor has charged Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo with defrauding Spain’s tax office of 14.7 million euros ($16.5 million) in unpaid taxes.
In a statement released Tuesday, Madrid’s regional state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four accounts of tax fraud from 2011-14.
It said the Portugal forward ”took advantage of a business structure created in 2010 to hide from fiscal authorities income generated in Spain from image rights.”
The statement said Ronaldo used what it deems a shell company in the Virgin Islands to ”create a screen in order to hide his total income from Spain’s Tax Office.