Bayern Munich and Germany legend evaded €27.2m in tax.

Uli Hoeness admitted to evading €27.2m in tax but pleaded for leniency.

Uli Hoeness, the former Germany international and president of Bayern Munich, was sentenced to three-an-a-half years in prison on Thursday for seven cases of tax evasion amounting to €27.2m (£22.7m). Hoeness's legal team has a week to appeal against the verdict.

The 62-year-old had admitted to tax evasion in January last year. For years, he had made large profits in stock market speculations via a secret Swiss bank account.

By choosing to go public, Hoeness had opted for what German law calls "voluntary disclosure": evaders can avoid trial by correctly detailing the taxes they have skipped and paying them back with 6% interest.

But during this week's trial, it not only emerged that the sums Hoeness had evaded were almost ten times higher than assumed – previous reports had spoken of €3.2m (£2.6m) – but also that he had failed to disclose his accounts within the rules.

An effective voluntary disclosure would have had to be done with the same detail as a tax return, the chief prosecutor had said. Hoeness had provided end-of-year statements for the relevant period, but failed to provide sufficient details on individual taxable transactions.

Federal prosecutor Achim von Engel had described the case as an "unusually grave case of tax evasion". The defence had demanded a suspended sentence, emphasising Hoeness' social engagement at the club.

Even before today's verdict, the most high-profile trial against tax evasion in German history has already had a noticeable effect: More than 26,000 German tax evaders opted for voluntary disclosure since the Hoeness revelations hit the headlines in 2013. In Bavaria alone, the figure has quadrupled since 2012.

Reactions varied from schadenfreude to outrage at the harshness of the sentence. Hoeness' supporters protested audibly outside the Munich court even before the verdict was read out. On Twitter, Daniel Mack, a candidate for the Green Party, described the sentence as "the longest sending off in history".

Bayern Munich say they will not comment on the sentence until after any appeal, though a statement from the supervisory board – which contains high-profile executives from Adidas, German Telekom, Volkswagen and Audi – is expected later on Thursday.

source- http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/13/uli-hoeness-sentenced-three-and-a-half-years-prison-tax-evasion-germany

haha, 3 and a "1/5".. xD correction..3 and a 1/2.. ;)

This FR editing is Garbage. When are they going to FIX IT?!?!?!!? "Check your input and try again later" -.-

I was listening to this last night on the radio . I could not believe it . He did so much for Bayern as a player and as president of Bayern . IF it was not for him Bayern would not be even on the map as one of the top clubs of Europe.

This is what happens when you play with money.