Roberto Cavalli Guilty

Roberto Cavalli was sentenced to 14 months in prison yesterday after a Florence court found him guilty of tax evasion. However, a technicality in Italian law means he is unlikely to spend any time in jail. The designer was originally accused in 2002 when it was found that he had put a £1.8 million refurbishment of his home through his company as expenses. Having always argued that his luxurious villa serves as the headquarters for his international label, the Italian designer will now appeal. "As [much as] it is possible to read the grounds for this entirely unjustified ruling, [Cavalli's lawyers] will launch an immediate challenge," said a statement yesterday from the designer, who was not in court for the verdict. "The defense counsels are firmly convinced that the crime assumed on the part of the public prosecutor… [is] utterly groundless and that in the appeal procedure, Mr Cavalli will, therefore, be acquitted in the fullest terms."

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