Shakira acquitted of tax fraud in Spain – Good Morning America

Music superstar Shakira was acquitted of tax fraud in a new ruling released Monday by Spain’s national court.

The court ordered Spanish authorities to repay Shakira more than $60 million from the yearslong legal battle.

The ruling was based on an appeal from Shakira’s legal team, which argued the Grammy winner was not a full-time resident of Spain in 2011 and therefore did not owe taxes to the government for that year.

The court ruled that Shakira spent 163 days in Spain that year, not the minimum 183 days required under Spanish law to pay income taxes. The court also said the tax agency failed to prove that Shakira “maintained her center of economic interests in Spain, or that she had family ties with residents in the country.”

Spain’s Ministry of…

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Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.

• How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
• Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.