Manchester, Feb. 7 (IANS): Manchester United's latest recruit Alexis Sanchez was on Wednesday handed a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud during his time at Barcelona.
The Chilean admitted defrauding Spanish tax authorities of $1,249515 from image rights during his time with the Catalan football giants, reports mirror.co.uk.
The 29-year-old has been fined $728,883 and will also repay the money to the authorities. He will however avoid a jail sentence if he does not commit a crime in the next two years.
The Chilean had set up a Maltese company called Numidia Trading in a tax avoidance scheme to stop paying on his image rights deals between 2012 and 2013.
The former Barcelona star was represented in court by the same lawyer who defended his former teammate Javier Mascherano on similar charges.
