Shakira Paid $8 Million to Settle Her Tax Fraud Case

Superstar pop icon Shakira settled her Spanish tax fraud case today, paying $8 million on what would have been the first day of her trial in Barcelona. According to Reuters, Shakira will receive a suspended three-year sentence and pay a fine of 7.3 million euros (approximately $8 million). She is also paying another fine of 432,000 euros (about $472,000) in exchange for having her sentence waived. Back in July, prosecutors said that they were pursuing an eight-year prison sentence in addition to a fine of 24 million euros ($26 million). At today’s court hearing, Shakira "confirmed six counts of failing to pay the Spanish government 14.5 million euros (about $15.8 million) in taxes between 2012 and 2014," Deadline adds. 

Shakira issued a statement after the news broke, saying that she was proceeding with a settlement for the sake of her family.

“I have made the decision to finally resolve this matter with the best interest of my kids at heart who do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight," she said. "I need to move past the stress and emotional toll of the last several years and focus on the things I love, my kids, and all the opportunities to come in my career.”

The BBC adds that in a separate case that was filed in 2019, Shakira's ex, Gerard Piqué, was fined 2.1 million euros by the Spanish court for tax evasion that took place between 2008 and 2010.

"The Spanish tax authorities saw that I was dating a Spanish citizen and started to salivate. It's clear they wanted to go after that money no matter what", Shakira told Elle in September 2022.

Deadline previously reported that Shakira told authorities she was not primarily residing in Spain during the period in question. However, prosecutors claimed that she was “ordinarily resident in Spain between 2012 and 2014 and in May 2012 bought a house in Barcelona.”