Pop star Shakira has reached a deal with tax authorities in Spain, avoiding a €14.5m trial on the morning it was due to begin.
The Colombian pop star attended court on Monday and agreed to pay a fine of €7m (£6.1m). She waved and blew a kiss to bystanders as she walked in ahead of the short hearing.
After answering “yes” to confirm acknowledgement of failing to pay the Spanish government taxes, she also received a suspended three-year sentence, the AP news agency reported.
In a statement sent to Sky News, Shakirasaid she had “always strived to do what’s right and set a positive example for others” but now wants to “move past the stress”.
Image: Shakira pictured outside court in Barcelona this morning
The agreement means a trial which had been due to include dozens of witnesses, and was expected to last several weeks, has now been called off – and prosecutors have dropped their demand for the star to be jailed for eight years.
The Hips Don’t Lie singer said her lawyers had been “confident” the court would have ruled in her favour following a trial.
However, she said she took the decision to resolve the matter beforehand “with the best interest of my kids at heart, who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal wellbeing in this fight”.
Shakira, 46, has two sons with her ex-partner, footballer Gerard Pique.
She had faced six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government €14.5m (about £12.7m) in taxes between 2012 and 2014.
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The case centred around where she was living at the time, and she had denied any wrongdoing. Her defence team had argued she had not spent more than 60 days a year in Spain during the period in question and so should not have been considered a fiscal resident.
‘Winning is getting my time back’
In her statement, Shakira said she had sought “the advice of the world’s preeminent tax authorities PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited and Ernst & Young Global Limited”, her advisers throughout the process.
“Unfortunately, and despite these efforts, tax authorities in Spain pursued a case against me as they have against many professional athletes and other high-profile individuals, draining those people’s energy, time, and tranquility for years at a time,” she said.
“I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love – my kids and all the opportunities to come in my career, including my upcoming world tour and my new album, both of which I am extremely excited about.
“I admire tremendously those who have fought these injustices to the end, but for me, today, winning is getting my time back for my kids and my career.”
Spain has cracked down on football stars such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for tax offences in the last decade.
The former Barcelona and Real Madrid stars were found guilty of evasion but both avoided jail after their sentences were suspended.
From Grammy wins to court
Image: Shakira attended the Latin Grammy Awards at the weekend. Pic: AP
She was presented with one award by Sergio Ramos, former Spanish international teammate of Pique and defender for Real Madrid, rivals of Pique’s former club Barcelona.
Prosecutors announced in September that Shakira would also face separate charges of €6.7m tax evasion in Spain, relating to a period in 2018. Sky News understands this case is still ongoing but her lawyers are confident of a resolution.
Bob Vylan’s frontman has said he does not regret chanting “death, death to the IDF” at Glastonbury – and would do it again.
The outspoken punk duo sparked controversy with their performance at the festival in June, with the broadcast also leading to fierce criticism of the BBC.
But speaking on The Louis Theroux podcast, Bobby Vylan said he stood by the chant, adding: “I’d do it again tomorrow, twice on Sundays.”
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BBC bosses grilled over Masterchef, Bob Vylan and Gaza documentary
Vylan claimed this backlash is “minimal” compared with what the people of Palestine are going through – with many losing members of their family or forced to flee their homes.
He said: “If I have their support, they’re the people that I’m doing it for, they’re the people that I’m being vocal for, then what is there to regret. Oh, because I’ve upset some right-wing politician or some right-wing media?”
The musician revealed he was taken aback by the uproar caused by the chant, which was described by the prime minister as “appalling hate speech”.
Vylan added: “It wasn’t like we came off stage, and everybody was like (gasps). It’s just normal. We come off stage. It’s normal. Nobody thought anything. Nobody. Even staff at the BBC were like: ‘That was fantastic! We loved that!'”
A spokesperson at Mindhouse Productions – which was founded by Theroux and produces The Louis Theroux podcast – told Sky News: “Louis is a journalist with a long history of speaking to controversial figures who may divide opinion. We would suggest people watch or listen to the interview in its entirety to get the full context of the conversation.”
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Theroux asked Vylan what he meant by chanting “death to the IDF” – with the musician replying: “It’s so unimportant, and the response to it was so disproportionate.
“What is important is the conditions that exist to allow that chant to even take place on that stage. And I mean, the conditions that exist in Palestine. Where the Palestinian people are being killed at an alarming rate.”
He said he wanted an end to the oppression that the Palestinian people are facing – but argued chanting “end, end the IDF” wouldn’t have caught on because it doesn’t rhyme.
“We are there to entertain, we are there to play music,” Vylan added. “I am a lyricist. ‘Death, death to IDF’ rhymes. Perfect chant.”
He went on to reject claims that their set had contributed to a spike in antisemitic incidents that were reported a couple of days later.
“I don’t think I have created an unsafe atmosphere for the Jewish community. If there were large numbers of people going out and going like ‘Bob Vylan made me do this’. I might go, ‘oof, I’ve had a negative impact here’.”
Vylan’s conversation with Theroux was recorded on 1 October – before the Manchester synagogue attack, and prior to the ceasefire in Gaza coming into effect.
A security guard jailed for plotting to kidnap, rape and murder TV star Holly Willoughby has lost an appeal against his life sentence.
Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 16 years last year after being convicted of soliciting murder and encouraging or assisting others to rape and kidnap.
A trial at Chelmsford Crown Court heard that police found bottles of chloroform and an “abduction kit” with cable ties when officers raided the 38-year-old’s flat in Harlow, Essex.
Plumb’s kidnap plan involved attempting to “ambush” Willoughby at her family home, jurors heard.
Plumb argued in his defence that it was just online chat and fantasy.
Image: Police believed Plumb was an ‘imminent threat’ to Holly Willoughby. Pic: PA
He was caught after an undercover police officer in the US infiltrated an online group called Abduct Lovers.
He told the officer, who used the pseudonym David Nelson, that he was “definitely serious” about his plot to kidnap the former This Morning host, leaving him with the impression that there was an “imminent threat” to Willoughby.
Due to the officer’s concern over Plumb’s post, evidence was passed to the FBI, who then contacted police in the UK.
Willoughby, who asked for her victim personal statement to be private, waived her right to anonymity in connection with the charge against Plumb of assisting or encouraging rape.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is appealing the conviction handed down to him earlier this year over prostitution charges relating to his former girlfriends and male sex workers.
He was cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking that could have put him in jail for life.
The two-page formal notice of appeal, seen by Sky News, was filed in Manhattan federal court on Monday, confirming he will be challenging both his conviction and his sentence.
It lists Combs’s defence council as Alexandra A E Shapiro, and shows a $605 (£450) docketing fee was paid to lodge the formal notice.
More detailed filings are expected to follow.
On the day of sentencing in early October the rapper’s lawyers had signalled they intended to appeal.
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Combs, 55, has been in custody since his arrest last year.
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Diddy jailed for more than four years
His seven-week trial earlier this year included four days of testimony from Cassie, now Cassie Ventura Fine, who told the court she was coerced and sometimes blackmailed into sexual encounters with male sex workers, referred to as “freak offs”.
Jurors were also shown video clips of Combs dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one of those sessions in 2016.
Ahead of the sentencing, Cassie also submitted a letter to the judge, calling Combs a “manipulator” and saying she would fear for her safety should he be immediately released.
Image: Diddy and Cassie at the premiere for a film she starred in, just days after the 2016 hotel incident. Pic: zz/Galaxy/STAR MAX/IPx/ AP
Ahead of his sentencing, Combs told the court he admitted his past behaviour was “disgusting, shameful and sick”, and apologised personally to Cassie Ventura and “Jane”, another former girlfriend who testified anonymously during the trial.
He told the court he’d got “lost in my excess and lost in my ego”, but since his time in prison he has been “humbled and broken to my core,” adding “I hate myself right now… I am truly sorry for it all.”
Judge Arun Subramanian, who had rejected bail for the rapper several times before sentencing, told him that he would get through his time in prison and would still “have a life afterwards,” calling it “a chance for renewal and redemption”.
He was facing a maximum of 20 years in prison for the prostitution-related charges, so the sentence was towards the lower end of the scale.
Prosecutors had argued he should spend at least 11 years behind bars, while Combs’s lawyers had called for him to be freed almost immediately due to time already served since his arrest just over a year ago.
Sky News has contacted Combs’s lawyers for comment.