Famed actress Isabelle Adjani was sentenced Thursday in Paris to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a 250,000-euro fine for tax fraud and money laundering, a verdict she will appeal, AFP reported.

The 68-year-old actress, who came to public attention in 1974 in Claude Pinot’s La Gifle (The Slap) when she was still in her 20s, was found guilty of all charges brought against her between 2013 and 2017. According to the court, these facts “testify (her desire) to hide information from the tax authorities” and “seriously harm the equality of citizens before the tax authorities.”

The five-time Cesar winner, who has pleaded not guilty, was found guilty of fraudulently establishing her domicile in Portugal in 2016 and 2017, evading €236,000 in income tax.

She was also convicted for transferring two million euros in 2013 from Mamadou Diagn Ndiaye, an influential businessman and friend of the actress, president of the National Olympic and Sports Committee of Senegal, and a member of the International Olympic Committee.

According to the court, this amount, declared as a loan, was a “donation in disguise” that allowed the defendant, who was in a difficult financial situation at the time, to avoid paying 1.2 million euros in transfer taxes.

Finally, Isabelle Adjani was found guilty of money laundering for transferring 119,000 euros to Portugal through an “undeclared” account in the United States – the court found that “the material and legal conditions of this operation cannot have any other justification than to conceal the origin and destination of these funds “.

Isabelle Adjani’s lawyers said they were “dismayed” to learn of the decision, “especially because Isabelle Adjani was unable to give an explanation to the court (and) the main witness to the events long ago said she could not be present.”

The trial on October 19 was held without the actress, known for her roles in the films “L’été meurtrier” (1983), “Camille Claudel” (1988), “La Reine Margot” (1994) and most recently “Masquerade” (2022). , who was in the United States, and without Diagna N. Daye, who was called as a witness.

His defense asked for the hearing to be postponed, but the court rejected that request, saying it doubted his “genuine intention” to appear at the bar.