Italian fashion icons Domenico
Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were cleared by Italy's top appeals
court Friday of charges of tax evasion for which they had been
sentenced to 18 months in jail.
D&G's accountant was also cleared.
In April Dolce and Gabbana were handed their suspended
prison terms of 18 months by a Milan appeals court.
The jail terms were reduced slightly from the 20 months the
pair were given at the first-instance trial in June last year.
The appeals court ignored a request from prosecutors for
the conviction for evading taxes on almost one billion euros in
income to be reversed.
The creators of the world-famous Dolce & Gabbana brand were
found guilty with other people of evading taxes for several
years after setting up the front company Gado in Luxembourg.
Milan prosecutors had told the court that the pair "paid
their taxes" and that Gado was "a legal operation".
Dolce and Gabbana filed an appeal to the supreme Court of
Cassation and in the meantime did not go to jail.
In Italy convictions for non-violent crimes do not usually
take effect until the appeals process has been exhausted and
people sentenced to such short terms do not usually have to
serve time in jail.
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