Victoria's Secret model sentenced to community service over tax evasion
Bar Refaeli's community sentence has been confirmed after she pleaded guilty to tax evasion. The Victoria's Secret model was given nine months' community service, while her mother was given 16 months imprisonment.
Although rumours of their sentencing emerged in July, the news was confirmed yesterday by a Tel Aviv court. Both the Israeli model and her mother and agent, Tzipi Refaeli, made a court appearance on Sunday, 13 September. They wore masks and made no comment after they left.
Bar was assigned provisionally to perform community service, five days a week, at a centre near Tel Aviv for people with physical disabilities, while Tzipi will begin her prison term on 21 September. They will both pay a fine of 2.5 million shekels (£570,000), reports The Telegraph.
The case goes back a decade when the Victoria's Secret model was dating Leonardo DiCaprio, and centres upon claims that she was not living in Israel, so not required to pay income tax there. To allegedly hide that she was based in Israel more than she claimed, her mother and brother signed leases for flats in Tel Aviv, purchased cars and carried out other property deals on her behalf.
Her mother also hid foreign earnings from Refaeli’s work as a model, as well receiving various financial favours from Israeli companies on her daughter’s behalf, worth about £500,000. Again, she failed to record as income.
The Israeli tax authorities began a formal tax evasion investigation in 2015.
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