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GUCCI, 81, GETS YEAR IN PRISON IN FEDERAL TAX CASE

GUCCI, 81, GETS YEAR IN PRISON IN FEDERAL TAX CASE
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September 12, 1986, Section A, Page 1Buy Reprints
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Aldo Gucci, the 81-year-old former head of the elegant Gucci Shops Inc., was sentenced to a year in prison yesterday for failing to pay $7 million in personal income taxes.

Mr. Gucci, who will be eligible for parole after four months in prison, admitted he had not reported more than $11 million of his income from the fashionable leather-goods business, which operates in New York and other cities.

''I feel very sorry, deeply sorry for what happened, for what I have done,'' he said, addressing the judge in halting, emotional tones before the sentence was imposed in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Referring to a son who touched off the tax investigation by disclosing information in a bitter family dispute, Mr. Gucci said, ''I forgive him, and I forgive anyone who wanted me to be here today.''

His lawyer, Milton S. Gould, said after the sentencing that Mr. Gucci recognized when he pleaded guilty that he risked going to jail. Mr. Gould said: ''He consciously elected to pay his debts. I think he was prepared for this and accepts it bravely.''

Judge Vincent L. Broderick, who could have imposed five years in prison on each of three charges, said at the sentencing that he took into consideration the fact that Mr. Gucci was paying all the back taxes with interest.

''I am persuaded that you, Mr. Gucci, will not commit another crime,'' the judge said.

Besides imposing the one-year sentence on a tax conspiracy charge, Judge Broderick suspended two three-year sentences for tax evasion and ordered the maximum fine of $30,000. He also put Mr. Gucci on probation for five years, including a year of community service.

The defense lawyer, Mr. Gould, called for leniency, stressing Mr. Gucci's advanced age and his continuing cooperation with the authorities.

Generally, a defendant could get a longer sentence in such a large tax case, but judges weigh many factors, including age, in considering requests for leniency, and they sometimes grant probation.

Pleading guilty last Jan. 17, Mr. Gucci admitted that various devices were used to divert millions of dollars from the business to himself and his family from 1977 to 1982, without their reporting the income.

Mr. Gucci has already paid most of the taxes that he owed and has agreed to pay interest of several million dollars, according to the prosecutor, Stuart E. Abrams. Sentencing Memorandum

In a sentencing memorandum to the judge, Mr. Abrams recounted that the Gucci businesss was founded many years ago by the defendant's father in Florence and continued to operate in Italy as a separate corporation.

The defendant and his two brothers, the prosecutor said, began operating in the United States in 1953 as Gucci Shops Inc., with its principal store at 685 Fifth Avenue, near 54th Street, in Manhattan.

''In 1974,'' Mr. Abrams continued, ''the Guccis transferred their stock in Gucci Shops Inc. to several sham companies. This was apparently done because a change in Italian law sharply restricted the right of Italian citizens to own stock in foreign corporations.''

Mr. Gucci, who became a permanent resident of the United States in 1976, is said to have homes in New York, Palm Beach, Fla., London and Rome. 'Minimal Amounts' Reported

Although he began filing United States tax returns in 1977, he reported ''only minimal amounts'' of his income, Mr. Abrams said in the memorandum.

''The various schemes in which the Guccis had been involved began to unravel in 1982,'' he added, ''when a falling out took place between Aldo Gucci and his son Paolo. Ultimately, Paolo Gucci initiated litigation against his father and Gucci Shops Inc. and, in publicly filed court documents, revealed some of the schemes discussed above.

''This litigation came to the attention of the Internal Revenue Service, which instituted an administrative investigation in March 1983.''

Mr. Gucci, who ended his active role in the company in 1984, appeared to be struggling to suppress tears at his sentencing as he referred to his dispute with family members.

''Some of them have done their duty,'' he said, ''and others have the satisfaction of their revenge. Only God will be their judge.''

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 1 of the National edition with the headline: GUCCI, 81, GETS YEAR IN PRISON IN FEDERAL TAX CASE. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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