Italian court gives Dolce and Gabbana suspended 18-month jail term in tax case

Fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were each given a reduced, suspended sentence of 18 months in jail on Wednesday for a conviction on charges of hiding hundreds of millions of euros from Italian tax authorities. Italy’s appeals court upheld a verdict issued last June against the pair, who are as famous as the stars they dress, on charges of using Luxembourg holding company Gado to avoid paying taxes on royalties of about 1 billion euros ($1.38 billion). A lawyer for Dolce and Gabbana, who have always denied any wrongdoing, said they would appeal the decision. The previous decision, by a lower court, handed the duo suspended jail sentences of 20 months each and imposed a fine of up to 10 million euros over avoidance of the payments in Italy, where corporate taxes are among the highest in Europe.