Appeals court ignores prosecutor’s request to throw out Dolce&Gabbana tax fraud case

MILAN – A Milan appeals court has upheld a tax fraud conviction against designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana, despite the prosecutor’s request to drop the case.

However, the court did shave two months off the original suspended sentence, to a year and six months.

Defence layer Massimo Dinoia was critical of the court’s decision to ignore the request to dismiss and pledged to appeal to Italy’s highest court.

The designers, mainstays of Milan fashion, were convicted of failing to declare 200 million euros ($268 million) through a Luxembourg company. The prosecutor, in calling for dismissal, called the company “a legal operation.”

Dolce and Gabbana have denied tax evasion — and even shut down their Milan stores for three days last summer “in indignation” over a city official’s remarks about their conviction.