World famous fashion designer team Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were convicted of tax evasion today in a Milan, Italy court. The two were sentenced to jail for a year and eight months and will have to pay 500,000 euros ($670,000) to tax authorities.
According to Reuters, the two were not in court and they have denied the allegations. The jail sentence has been suspended and since the appeals process is so long, it is likely that the two will not actually serve any time. Prosecutors had hoped for a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
The Associated Press reports that both of them had been charged with misrepresenting a 416 million euros (around $560 million) income, but they were acquitted on those charges.
The case against the famous designing duo started back in 2008, when prosecutors began investigating possible tax fraud when the financial crisis hit. Dolce and Gabbana were the most well-known personalities that prosecutors decided to go after. The judge ruled that they avoided paying taxes by selling a Luxembourg holding company called Gado in 2004.
“Everyone knows that we haven't done anything,” Gabbana said in a tweet last summer, when the case went to trial.
The pair haven’t responded to the verdict. Gabbana was been using Instagram to show off new designs.