Diego Costa appears in court to settle tax fraud case

Diego Costa appears in court to settle tax fraud case

Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa appears in court wearing a white mask in the Spanish capital to ratify a pact he made with prosecutors to resolve a tax fraud case against him.

RESENDING WITH UPDATED SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: ATLETICO MADRID STRIKER DIEGO COSTA LEAVING COURT IN MADRID AFTER APPEARING TO RATIFY A PACT WITH PROSECUTORS TO RESOLVE TAX FRAUD CASE AGAINST HIM, FILE FOOTAGE OF COSTA TRAINING SHOWS: MADRID, SPAIN (JUNE 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

EXTERIOR OF MADRID REGIONAL COURT 2.

ATLETICO MADRID STRIKER DIEGO COSTA WEARING WHITE MASK AND SPEAKING ON THE PHONE AS HE LEAVES COURT 3.

COSTA WALKING DOWN STAIRS, MEDIA APPROACHING AND ASKING QUESTIONS 4.

COSTA GETTING INSIDE CAR AS JOURNALISTS ASK, CAR LEAVING 5.

VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF COURT MAJADAHONDA, SPAIN (MAY 28, 2020) (LA LIGA HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) 6.

ATLETICO MADRID FORWARD, DIEGO COSTA (CENTRE), WARMING UP WITH TEAM MATES DURING TEAM TRAINING SESSION 7.

COSTA JUMPING ON BENCH AS PART OF TRAINING 8.

COSTA (CENTRE, BACK TO CAMERA) WARMING UP WITH TEAM MATES 9.

COSTA (BACKGROUND) STRETCHING WITH SQUAD 10.

COSTA (BACKGROUND) WARMING UP WITH SQUAD 11.

COSTA (FOREGROUND), SECOND FROM BOTTOM OF SCREEN) STRETCHING WITH TEAM MATES MAJADAHONDA, SPAIN (MAY 26, 2020) (LA LIGA HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) 12.

COSTA RETURNING BOOT AND SHOOTING BALL 13.

COSTA CHASING BALL TO MAKE RETURN MAJADAHONDA, SPAIN (MAY 14, 2020) (ATLETICO MADRID HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) 14.

COSTA JUGGLING THE BALL MAJADAHONDA, SPAIN (MAY 9, 2020) (LA LIGA HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL) (MUTE) 15.

COSTA STRETCHING MAJADAHONDA, SPAIN (FILE - FEBRUARY 17, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 16.

DIEGO COSTA RUNNING AFTER BALL AND SLIDE-TACKLING TEAM MATE STORY: Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa appeared in court wearing a white mask in the Spanish capital on Thursday (June 4) to ratify a pact he made with prosecutors to resolve a tax fraud case against him.

Prosecutors were asking for a six-month jail sentence and a fine of 507,208 euros ($564,877 dollars) to punish Costa for defrauding the Spanish state of 1,014,416 euros in 2014.

According to a court filing published last month, Costa, 31, did not declare payments of 5,150,622 euros from his 2014 transfer from Atletico to Chelsea in his tax return, as well as more than one million euros in image rights.

In accordance with Spanish law which allows penal sentences below two years for non-violent crimes to be exchanged for a financial penalty, Costa has agreed to pay an additional fine of 36,500 euros on top of the 507,208 euros to avoid jail time.

"Diego Costa reached an agreement a few months ago with the prosecutor and has already paid the corresponding fine plus interest and the request for a prison sentence was withdrawn," an Atletico spokesman told Reuters on Wednesday.

"This week it is expected that agreement will be ratified in court, as is mandatory." Spain international Costa, who was wearing a mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic, returned to Atletico from Chelsea in 2017 for a reported 55 million euros after helping fire the London side to two Premier League titles.

(Production: Sergio Perez, Miguel Gutierrez)