Ex-Chelsea Striker, Diego Costa sentence To 6-Month In Prison Over Tax Fraud

Former Chelsea striker, Diego Costa made an appearance at a Madrid court on Thursday to ratify a deal he made with Spanish prosecutors to resolve a tax fraud case against him.

According to AS, Costa was handed a six-month prison sentence, which he will not serve, and a total fine of €543,000 (£482,000) after the Atletico Madrid striker defrauded the Spanish state of more than €1m (£900,000) in 2014.

In a court filing published last month, the 31-year-old did not declare payments of just over €5m (£4.4m) from his 2014 transfer from Atletico to Chelsea in his tax return, as well as more than €1m (£900,000) in image rights. 

Due to the fact that Spanish law allows penal sentences below two years for non-violent crimes to be exchanged for a financial penalty, Costa agreed to pay an additional fine of €36,500 (£32,000) on top of the €507,000 (£450,000) to avoid prison time.

‘Diego Costa reached an agreement a few months ago with the prosecutor and has already paid the corresponding fine plus interest and the request for a prison sentence was withdrawn,’ an Atletico spokesman said on Wednesday.

‘This week it is expected that agreement will be ratified in court, as is mandatory.’

Diego Costa joins the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo and ex-Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, who all have been involved in tax fraud. None of them served prison time but did pay hefty fines.