The criminal court of Barcelona found the former tennis player guilty Arantxa Sánchez Vicario52, her ex-husband Josep Santacana and three other people for fiscal fraudwith the aim of avoiding payment of a debt of 7.6 million euros to Banque de Luxembourg, including interest.
The ruling establishes that Sánchez Vicario will not serve the prison sentence as long as he does not commit any other crime within two years.
Santacana, who divorced Sánchez Vicario in 2019, received a sentence of three years and three months in prison. Both defendants denied the accusations during the trial.
Sánchez Vicario attributed responsibility to Santacana, arguing that he managed her finances and that she was not aware of any illegal manipulation of her family assets.
The court also ruled that both must compensate Banque de Luxembourg with 6.6 million euros and pay fines whose amounts were not specified.
Sánchez Vicario had declared in September that he had already paid the bank approximately 1.9 million euros and had committed to allocating half of his future income to cover the rest of the outstanding debt.
The court held that, although the former tennis player lacked the financial knowledge to carry out the operations, she had full knowledge of the actions related to her assets and benefited from them, being aware of the debt she had with Banque de Luxembourg.
Sánchez Vicario was the first Spanish tennis player to reach the top of the women’s tennis rankings, with three singles titles at Roland Garros and one at the US Open, while she retired in 2002.
This case arises from her conviction in 2009 by the Supreme Court, which forced her to pay a fine of 5.2 million euros for tax fraud during the period 1989-2003when he resided in Spain and not in Andorra, as he had declared.
After the couple transferred their assets from the Banque de Luxembourg, the Spanish State recovered the money through a guarantee agreement.
The bank alleged that the couple had failed to pay off their debt and had hidden their assets, leading to a civil lawsuit in 2014.
Although a Spanish court ruled in favor of the bank, the money was never paid, eventually taking the case to criminal courts.
Source: Ambito
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