Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeneß sentenced to jail time for tax evasion

Hoeneß was charged with the non-payment on €3.5 million in tax, but over the course of the four-day trial it was revealed that the amount he owed was actually much higher. The German football legend admitted on Monday to having avoided paying €15 million, but additional testimony on Tuesday showed that the 62-year-old had in fact withheld €27.2 million in taxes.

The prosecutor had recommended a five-and-a-half year sentence for Hoeness -- German law allows for a maximum of ten years in tax evasion cases -- but the court decided to sentence him to three-and-a-half years. Prosecutors argued that Hoeneß‘s voluntary disclosure of his failure to pay taxes was not complete, thus excluding him from amnesty. German tax laws allow tax evaders to admit to their fraud and avoid prison time, but the revelations during the trial showed that Hoeneß had not come properly clean with authorities.

Up to this point, Hoeneß has refused to resign his position with Bayern Munich, but the team’s various owners will likely force him separate himself from the club in an attempt to begin the process of distancing themselves from him.