Entertainment

Tenor's Tax Problems Resolved

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 19, 2001 / 4:48 PM EDT / CBS

Luciano Pavarotti, one of the world's most famous opera singers, was cleared of charges of tax fraud Friday, his lawyer said.

"He has been absolved," Massimo Leone told Reuters. "It's a very complex ruling and the motivation won't be published for another 90 days."

The court verdict was handed down after a one-month trial in which Pavarotti stood accused of evading some $20 million in taxes between 1989 and 1995.

The 66-year-old tenor has long claimed that his official residence is Monte Carlo, a tax haven, rather than Modena. A veteran of performances around the world, he also says the core of his business world is not in Italy.

The prosecution had asked for him to be found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Pavarotti wasn't present in the courtroom for the late afternoon verdict, but he did attend final arguments in the morning.

"When it was all over we only spoke to him on the phone for a few seconds, but 'big' Luciano sounded very happy," said one of his lawyers, Mario Giulio Leone.

Prosecutors had maintained that Modena, where the tenor had lived for years and stages annual charity concerts, is the center of his activities.

Leone said the tenor had been found not guilty of fraud. It was not clear what the judge had decided on a lesser charge of failing to declare some income, which the lawyer said was no longer considered a crime.

"For any more details, we will have to wait for the judge's decision to be published," he added.

Pavarotti agreed last year to pay the Italian government more than $11 million in back taxes and penalties on civil tax evasion charges from those years.