The French film actress Isabelle Adjani has been sentenced in the appeal proceedings for serious tax evasion and money laundering to a ten-month suspended prison term and a fine of €10,000. The appellate court in Paris upheld the conviction but significantly reduced the sentence compared with the first-instance ruling.
At the end of 2023, a court had sentenced Adjani to 24 months of suspended imprisonment and a fine of €250,000. The judges of the appeals court again concluded that the alleged acts were proven, but saw reasons for a substantial mitigation of the sentence. This did not change the fundamental assessment of the charges.
The trial centered on tax matters from 2013 to 2017. According to the court, the now 71-year-old had moved her tax residence to Portugal on paper only for 2016 and 2017, although the center of her life continued to be in France. The case also concerned a gift that was allegedly presented as a loan, as well as money transfers via a bank account in the United States.
Adjani consistently denied the allegations of deliberate tax evasion throughout the proceedings. In court she portrayed herself as a person overwhelmed by administrative matters who had relied entirely on professionals. According to her, she was herself a victim of poor advice and fraudulent schemes. She emphasized that she never intended to deceive the state and explicitly denied being a thief.
The French tax authority, by contrast, argued that both the actress’s personal center of life and her economic interests were clearly in France. From the authorities’ point of view, she should therefore have declared and paid taxes on her income in France. The appeals court shared this assessment and thus confirmed the essential findings of the first-instance court.
Despite the substantially reduced sentence, the legal proceedings are not over. The defense announced immediately after the verdict that it would take the case to France’s Court of Cassation. That court does not re-examine the facts but reviews whether the appeals court applied the law correctly. Until a final decision is reached, the verdict is not legally binding.