Cristiano Ronaldo has accepted a two-year prison sentence and will pay 18.8 million euros (£16 million, $22 million) to the Spanish Tax Office to bring an end to the legal case he is immersed in over tax evasion, El Mundo reports. The Real Madrid and Portugal forward would thereby have reached an agreement with the Tax Office over the four financial crimes he is accused of.
Ronaldo has managed to get the Tax Office to considerably reduce the initial total value of the alleged offences from 14.7 million euros to 5.7 million. The rest of the money he owes is to cover fines and interest. With the agreement, the player ends his problems with the tax agency, both in criminal and administrative terms.
According to the reporting, only one details remains to be discussed when the agreement is taken before the relevant court. Ronaldo has asked for the suspended prison term to be substituted for a fine. This would put him at risk if he has further criminal problems in the future.
Ronaldo was reported by prosecutors after the revelation of the 'Football Leaks' documents, obtained by German news weekly Der Spiegel. They accused him of four charges between tax years 2011 and 2014 relating to his image rights and started a legal process which has seen two of his advisers being charged. This new agreement would see them automatically acquitted.
The Tax Office alleged during the investigation that Ronaldo tried to evade taxes through companies in the Virgin Islands and that he regularised his affairs in 2014 to try to camouflage it. The same newspaper claims that Ronaldo requested Leo Messi's tax file from the judge as part of his defence strategy, believing different criteria had been applied in the two cases.
Ronaldo's hope was to start the World Cup with his financial troubles behind him. And it seems he's managed it, although he'll have to empty his pockets to do so.