Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana Sentenced to 20 Months in Prison for Tax Evasion

According to Fox News, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were sentenced to 20 months in prison for $1.33 billion in tax evasion earlier today. The duo was accused of "having transferred control of their brands to a shell company in Luxembourg in 2004 and 2005 to avoid paying Italian taxes."

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Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house. The company was started by Italian designers Domenico Dolce (born 13 August 1958 in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily) and Stefano Gabbana (born 14 November 1962 in Venice). By 2005 their turnover was €597 million. The two met in Milan in 1980 and worked for the same fashion house. In 1982 they established a designer consulting studio; in time it grew to become "Dolce & Gabbana". They presented their first women's collection in 1985 in Milan, where a year later their store would open its doors. (Dolce & Gabbana 2011).

Two years later they launched their leotard line, and in 1989 they began designing underwear and swimming costumes (Domenico). Dolce and Gabbana started to export their products to Japan and other countries like the U.S., where they founded their own showroom in 1990 (Gabbana, Stephano 2011). In 1992, The same year they presented their men's collections they also launched their first perfume Dolce & Gabbana (Dolce & Gabbana 2011). They won the Woolmark award in 1991, and the prize "most feminine flavor of the year" in 1993 (Dolce & Gabbana 2007). They won an Oscar for best male perfume in 1996. Towards the end of the 1990s their sales were around 500 million dollars and in 2003 alone their revenue reached 633.2 million dollars (Gabbana, Stephano 2011).