France’s film icon Isabelle Adjani (68) has been sentenced to two years in prison for tax fraud and money laundering. The court in Paris also imposed a fine of 250,000 euros on Adjani.
The legendary actress was accused of having moved her residence to Portugal on paper in 2016 and 2017 in order to save 236,000 euros in income tax. She is also said to have declared a gift of two million euros as a loan and also received 120,000 euros from an offshore company to an undeclared US account.
Adjani told the magazine “L’Obs” in October about the allegations that the sum of millions was actually a private loan. She needed this after financial turbulence on a personal and professional level. Accordingly, she also registered the sum of money with the authorities. The tax office later assumed it was a donation and demanded high taxes.
No villa with pool
“Listen, I’m not an American-style artist,” Adjani told L’Obs about the economics of her job. “I’m not that woman.” She hasn’t worked regularly over the years and has also been socially involved. She lives modestly in rent and not in a villa with a pool, as many people think.
Adjani was born in France in 1955 to an Algerian father and a German mother. The award-winning actress celebrated successes as the unhappy lover of the sculptor Auguste Rodin in “Camille Claudel” or in the socially critical film “Today I Wear Rock!”, in which she embodies an overwhelmed teacher.
