D&G File Appeal

This week Massion Dinoia, the lawyer representing Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana,

filed a 90-page appeal at a Milan court house, calling for a full dismissal of his clients.

Back in June, the design duo had been found guilty of tax evasion and were sentenced by Judge Antonella Brambilla to one year and eight months in prison. According to Brambilla, both designers knew that Gado Slr, the Luxembourg-based holding company that Dolce and Gabbana allegedly transferred their earnings in order to avoid paying tax in Italy, was fictitious and had "no administration management or accounting, which raised legitimate doubts."

Dinoia however states in the filed appeal that the designers were only focused on the fashion and style aspects of the company and not management. He states that Dolce and Gabbana were “light years away from the trading activities of products,” as well as the distant from all legal aspects from the company since the fashion house was first started. Dinoia adds that the design team never managed or was actually directly involved with any activities that took place at Gado Slr, the holding company Brambilla accused the design team used for tax evasion.

The initial investigation into design duo first started in 2008, after the designers were accused of avoiding tax declaration on royalties of an estimated 1 billion euros from the sale of their brands in 2004. In April 2011, Dolce and Gabbana were cleared of the charges brought against them, however Italy's Supreme Court inverted the acquittal and sent the case back to court.