Shakira settles $15 million tax fraud case to ‘focus’ on her children

Shakira has reached a settlement with Spanish prosecutors after being accused of failing to pay more than 14.5 million euros (approximately $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014.

According to a Monday, November 20 report from AP NewsShakira, 46, reached a deal with the Spanish government to avoid jail time. When asked to admit to her six cases of tax fraud, the singer responded “yes.”

Shakira receives a suspended prison sentence of three years and must pay a fine of seven million euros each time AP News.

“I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interests of my children at heart, who do not want their mother to sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight,” Shakira said in a statement on Monday. “I need to put the stress and emotional toll of the past few years behind me and focus on the things I love, my children and all the opportunities that will come in my career. I greatly admire those who fought this injustice to the end, but for me, winning today means getting back time for my children and my career.

Related: A look inside Shakira’s fight against tax evasion

A sticky situation. Shakira becomes embroiled in a heated battle with Spanish authorities over allegations that she failed to pay nearly $14 million in taxes. In 2018, prosecutors in the European country accused the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer of withholding 14.5 million euros in taxes between 2012 and 2014. […]

Shakira added: “Throughout my career I have always strived to do the right thing and be a positive example for others,” citing Spanish tax authorities who, she claimed, “filed a case against me , as they have done against many professional athletes. other high-profile individuals, sucking away those people’s energy, time and peace for years.”

In 2018, Spanish prosecutors accused Shakira of defrauding the government, claiming she was living in the Bahamas when she actually lived in Catalonia – meaning she owed the Spanish government money.

A representative for Shakira previously called the claims “a total violation of her rights” in a July 2022 statement Reutersnoting that Shakira would rely on “her innocence and [choosing] to leave the matter to the law.”

Shakira went on to discuss the lawsuit directly during an interview with Elle in September 2022, denying the allegations.

“I didn’t spend 183 days a year [in Spain] not at all at that moment,” she said at the time. “I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world. Second, I paid everything they said I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe them nothing.”

Related: Shakira and Gerard Pique’s relationship timeline: as they were

Like it was. Shakira and footballer Gerard Piqué were together for twelve years before announcing their eventual split. “[Gerard is] with me because he wants to be with the person Shakira, not the celebrity,” Shakira, who was first linked to the professional athlete in 2011, told Latina magazine earlier in 2014. “There is real love, there is none […]

Her denial came shortly after Shakira and her longtime boyfriend Gerard Pique – with whom she shares sons Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8 – split in June 2022 after 12 years together. During the same Elle interview, she called her breakup and legal drama some of the “hardest, darkest hours” of her life.

“It was not only hard for me, but also for my children,” she said Elle at the time. “Incredibly difficult.”

While Shakira has settled one tax evasion case with the Spanish government, she was recently charged with a second lawsuit. Authorities in Barcelona alleged in September that she had failed to pay 6.7 million euros ($7.1 million) in 2018, using offshore companies in tax havens to avoid payment. (The case opened in July.)