Sensational Colombian singer, Shakira, was convicted of €14,500,000 in tax fraud and will await her court trial in Spain. The Spanish government in the past has accused many celebrities of tax fraud, this is a controversial problem for celebrities who reside in the country.

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born on February 2nd, 1977, in Baranquilla, Colombia. She made her first debut with Sony Music Columbia in 1990 and has not stopped creating music since. She has received fifteen Grammy awards and had 15 No.1 songs on the Billboard Latin chart, consequently, making her the best-selling Latina artist of all time.

According to Good Morning America, she is ordered to stand trial in Barcelona. The tax was accumulated from 2012-2014, and she resided in Spain for more than half the year. Usually, in Spain, celebrities are expected to keep a diary of where they are and the financial transactions made. Shakira argued that during that time she resided in the Bahamas, and not in Spain. Shakira was initially prosecuted in 2018.

If Shakira is found guilty of tax evasion, she will serve eight years in jail, according to El País. The singer moved to Spain when news of her dating Barça Defender, Gerard Piqué Bernabéu, became public. Piqué and Shakira would announce their breakup after dating for 11 years, and the cheating scandal placed her under intense stress.

The Prosecutor’s Office highlights the fact that the crimes are gravely serious since she used companies and tax havens to conceal her income. The Public Ministry of Spain requested the payment of €23,700,000 in damages and her defense team mitigated the potentially severe consequences to the Spanish court. It was made available to the court that Shakira already paid more than €17,000,000 to reduce the penalties paid for the damages.

The investigation ceased in July 2021; her defense team filed an appeal to stop the trial from happening, however, this attempt failed and Shakira lost. The Barcelona court validated the tax fraud allegations, meanwhile, the team tried negotiating an agreement with the office, so she would never serve jail time. Shakira feels as if she has nothing to lose against the Spanish government and has yet to face her trial.