Uli Hoeness tax evasion trial

http://www.goal.com/en/news/15/germany/2013/07/30/4153702/hoeness-charged-with-tax-evasion



Looks like no Jail or harsh punishment, unfortunately.

Did he voluntarily disclose this information before or after he found out the cops were coming round to feel his collar?

Exactly that is the point that is still somewhat in contention.

The trial against Hoeness has started today.

He's admitted to hiding gains from speculative stock market dealings on a Swiss bank account, thereby evading taxes of several milllion €.
Hoeness had reported himself last January, after a planned amnesty law had fallen through, and possibly alarmed by reports in Stern magazine of an unnamed football vip having money in Switzerland.
It's not really clear whether that report was about him afaik, but the question is whether he reported himself only because of these reports and the fear of being found out.
At the very least it seems he hurried the self-report after the press rumours, as it's said to be have been not really conclusive and flawed.

A self-report is usually a way to escape a jail sentence by agreeing to pay back taxes and a fine.
Since the highest federal court made a ruling couple of years ago that an evaded amount of over a million rules out parole, I guess whether his self-report is deemed sufficient decides if he goes to jails or not.

I honestly can't see why he shouldn't go to jail. Obviously, for reasons of calmness at the club it would be better if he didn't, as he'd probably just stay president, but at the same time personally i think he should see actual jail time for that kind of stuff.

The verdict is expected for Thursday already.

Well, if he's found guilty, he should go to jail. If not, then not.

As "we" (aka the public) only know what was reported in newspapers, TV and magazines which are notoriously unreliable (after all, the more sensationalist, the better the sales), one can only hope that the court has the full information available and can come to a "just" decision.

Although I doubt it will be really "just" as there are two big possibilities:
a) he will be convicted and made an example of (which will likely lead to a high prison sentence) or
b) he will be let free (taking into account the good stuff he did).
Whether he will get a sentence that is really fitting to the actual crime is arguable IMO.

I think there's no doubt that he's 'guilty', since he self-reported, and confessed to even more money than listed in the prosecution's case today.
Some of it may have expired.

It all hinges on the validity of the self-report. If it's deemed valid he won't be sentenced to jail (probation or not), if not I don't know which mitigating circumstances could keep him from actual jail, if any.
I don't think any of the 'good stuff' he did elsewhere plays a part in this, especially with the Bundesgerichtshof ruling out probation for such amounts.


Losing Hoeness as president and club godfather presence would be a problem, no doubt.
There's no overstating what he has done for us.

But if you gamble with tens of millions of euro an a Swiss account, evading 18m € tax as he confessed today, you should go to jail in my mind, with white collar crime of that magnitude it shouldn't be possible to pay your way out of it, since money is what people like Uli are clearly not lacking.
That's my personal opinion though, no idea how the verdict will turn out.

Well, I guess we just need to wait until Thursday, as any speculation is IMO moot (at least in my case as German law usually is a book with seven seals to me).

True, it's not a long wait anymore.

But at least today's reports are not speculative or of unknown factuality anymore, as this stuff was actually said and read in a public court today.

Hopefully he's innocent, has done too much for Bayern to have to leave it all now.

Well, he is definitely not innocent. The question is just - did he admit it early enough that German law allows him to get away with it.

The German Court found the 62 year old football legend and President of German Football Club, Bayern Munich, Uli Hoeness, guilty of tax fraud of 27.2 million euros through an undeclared Swiss bank and has been sentenced to 3 and a half years in prison.

Uli Hoeness was charged and sentenced today Thursday March 13th by a German court and he was allowed to walk out of the court today because he has one week to decide whether to appeal the verdict.

http://www.paradiseng.com/t456-bayern-munich-president-sentenced-3-and-a-half-years-imprisonment#931

he already decided to appeal the verdict.

edit: I was wrong, his lawyers had said that, he himself decided to not appeal so the verdict will come into effect.

Hoeness wrote:"Nach Gesprächen mit meiner Familie habe ich mich entschlossen, das Urteil des Landgerichts München II in meiner Steuerangelegenheit anzunehmen. Ich habe meine Anwälte beauftragt, nicht dagegen in Revision zu gehen. Das entspricht meinem Verständnis von Anstand, Haltung und persönlicher Verantwortung. Steuerhinterziehung war der Fehler meines Lebens. Den Konsequenzen dieses Fehlers stelle ich mich. Außerdem lege ich mit sofortiger Wirkung die Ämter des Präsidenten des FC Bayern München e.V. und des Aufsichtsratsvorsitzenden der FC Bayern München AG nieder. Ich möchte damit Schaden von meinem Verein abwenden. Der FC Bayern München ist mein Lebenswerk und er wird es immer bleiben. Ich werde diesem großartigen Verein und seinen Menschen auf andere Weise verbunden bleiben solange ich lebe. Meinen persönlichen Freunden und den Anhängern des FC Bayern München danke ich von Herzen für ihre Unterstützung."

Hoeness just declared that he told his lawyer he wants to accept the verdict without further appealing (it was actually expected, and declared by his lawyer yesterday that he would appeal it before the Federal Court), and resigned from all positions at the club.
He called evading taxes "the mistake of his life" for which he wants to accept and face the consequences right away, meaning he'll go to prison without further arguing.

Good, that's the right call.

Well, if he would have appealed, there were chances that he could have gotten an even longer prison sentence. But kudos to him that he simply says "I did wrong, now let me face my punishment and get it over with".

Karl Hopfner, vice president and before chief financial executive, will be the new president of Bayern.

Adidas boss Hainer will be the interim chairman of the supervisory board.

At least no Stoiber!