- Israeli supermodel
Bar Refaeli was sentenced to 9 months community service, while her mother was handed a 16-month prison sentence fortax evasion . - Refaeli pleaded guilty to tax evasion under a plea bargain, per Reuters.
- Authorities accused Refaeli and her mother of evading taxes on income of around $7.2 million. The pair were also fined.
Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli has been sentenced to 9 months of community service for tax evasion, ending a long-running and high-profile case in her home country.
Refaeli's mother and agent Tzipi was handed an 18-month prison sentence.
Authorities accused the pair of evading paying tax on around $7.2 million in earnings by lying about where the supermodel lived.
Under a plea bargain accepted by prosecutors, the two will also have to cough up a collective $1.4 million in fines and the back taxes. Per Haaretz, the agreement aims to settle all criminal and civil charges against the supermodel, who will withdraw her tax appeals filed with the Israeli Supreme Court and the Tel Aviv District Court.
The case covers a period when Refaeli was in a relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio and frequently traveling around the world for modeling campaigns.
Refaeli's attorneys argued that she did not have to pay Israeli taxes on her income between 2009 and 2012 because she was living overseas in the US, and that DiCaprio's home was her residence.
Prosecutors argued that Refaeli's mother aided her daughter and helped blur her residency status by leasing her luxury homes in
Refaeli is now married to Israeli businessman Adi Ezra. When the plea bargain became public news in June, her lawyers said it proved the model didn't intentionally evade tax.
"In the relevant time period, Bar was in her early 20s, was working as an international model and was not involved in financial matters," they said at the time, Sky News reported. "Today she is taking responsibility for mistakes that were made."