SHE’S NO MODEL CITIZEN
Bar guilty of tax fraud
Things just got pretty ugly for beautiful Bar Refaeli. An Israeli court on Monday convicted the supermodel and her mother of tax evasion, capping a years-long case against them.
The 5-foot-9 blonde entered Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court in a white face mask and white blouse to hear the arranged verdict, accompanied by her father, Raffi, her mom, Tzipi, and a legion of lawyers.
Under a plea deal, the 35year-old model and her mother confessed skipping out on taxes on income nearing $10 million. While Refaeli will avoid time behind bars — getting nine months of community service — her mom will be jailed for 16 months. The two are also ordered to pay a hefty fine and the equivalent of $2.3 million in back taxes owed to the state. At the heart of the case was the catwalker’s residence earlier this decade, when she crisscrossed the globe for modeling shoots, graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition and dated Leonardo DiCaprio. Refaeli had argued that her on-again, off-again relationship with DiCaprio made them a family unit, justifying her claim that the United States, not Israel, was her home at the time.
Israeli tax law determines residency primarily upon whether a person spent most of the calendar year in the Jewish state. Refaeli claimed she hadn’t and, therefore, did not have to declare her worldwide income in certain years.
But prosecutors rejected her claim and charged her with providing incorrect tax information to hide tens of millions of dollars in earnings from Israeli tax authorities between 2009 and 2012.
In previous appeals, an Israeli court ruled that her relationship with DiCaprio did not qualify as a “family unit,” and therefore she could not claim his US residence to avoid paying the full amount in taxes.
Tzipi — who also acted as her daughter’s agent — was charged with failure to report income, avoiding paying taxes and aiding someone else in evading tax payments.
Bar Refaeli’s lawyers said the plea bargain proved she hadn’t intentionally evaded tax payments.
“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.
The lengthy case damaged Refaeli’s well-crafted public image as an informal ambassador for Israel, although she remains a popular TV personality. Last year, she hosted the Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv.
Refaeli — whose net worth is estimated at $20 million — married Israeli billionaire Adi Ezra in 2015. They have two daughters and a son, who was born in January.