Dolce & Gabbana close nine shops in protest at being "pilloried"

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

DOLCE & GABBANA shut shops to protest public criticism.

MILAN, July 19 (Reuters) - Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana closed their Milan stores for three days on Friday in protest at being "pilloried" over their convictions for tax evasion in June, which they say they will appeal.

The words "Closed for Indignation" were emblazoned in the windows of the designers' shop in an upmarket street in Milan, the city where the pair showed their first collection in 1985.

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were given 20-month jail terms for evading taxes on royalties of about a billion euros ($1.3 billion) by selling their brand to a Luxembourg-based holding company in 2004.

Their lawyers say they are confident of overturning the convictions. The pair are unlikely to spend time in jail due to the complexity and length of the appeals process.

"We are no longer willing to suffer undeservedly the accusations of the financial police and the income revenue authority, attacks from public ministers and the media pillory we have already been subjected to for years," they said in a statement.

The pair said they would continue to pay their more than 250 employees in Milan during the temporary closure of all their nine shops in the city.

D&G Corset

Passers-by stopped to read an article displayed in the shop window that quoted a city councillor saying the city should not let the duo show their collections in communal spaces during the city's famous fashion week in September.

"We don't need to be represented by tax evaders," councillor Franco D'Alfonso was quoted as saying.

Famed for producing sexy corset dresses and bold patterns inspired by Dolce's native Sicily, the fashion house earned just under 1.5 billion euros in global revenues in 2011.

The case is one of the few high-profile tax evasion cases to come to light in Italy, where corporate tax rates are among the highest in the world.

"Taxes are going up all the time," said Marco Daddio, a tailor from Naples whose eye was caught by the unusual appearance of Dolce & Gabbana's shop window on Friday.

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Model-Turned-Lawyer Sues D&G Over Tit-For-Tat Pics UPDATE

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

BASSIL A. HAMIDEH model-turned-lawyer brought another lawsuit against the North American division of Italian design house, Dolce & Gabbana, in a Los Angeles court recently. He claims the company misappropriated an image of him from a 2002 D&G ad campaign. Hamideh filed a publicity rights lawsuit against D&G last year in state court in California. According to his most recent complaint (which he filed this week 05/03/2013), a month after Hamideh filed suit in 2012, D&G immediately acted against him, subsequently using an image of him in a Facebook campaign without his authorisation.

Both lawsuits are pending. Hamideh began practicing law in 2008 after appearing on the cover of L'Uomo Vogue and in a Hugo Boss campaign in 1995, in addition to the 2002 Dolce & Gabbana ad at issue

Dolce & Gabbana USA Inc. retaliated against Hamideh who sued the Italian designing duo for unauthorised use of a client’s image by using the 10-year-old photographs of the lawyer without his permission, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.

Bassil A. Hamideh, who is represented by Johnson & Johnson LLP in this case, alleges D&G published images of him in a 2012 Facebook campaign, well after their rights expired and one month after Hamideh filed a publicity rights suit against the company on behalf of another model.

Bassil A. Hamideh

If Hamideh is victorious in his lawsuit, it could mean poetic justice for a former male model who, still smarting from alleged abuse by one of the fashion industry's top purveyors, became a lawyer in order “to protect models from such malfeasance.”

“Disheartened by the rampant abuse of models' rights and the systematic unauthorised use of their images and likeness throughout the industry, [Hamideh] became a lawyer so that he could protect models from defendants like Dolce Gabbana,” the suit claims.

In 2002, D&G hired and photographed Hamideh — a familiar resident of Los Angeles, according to the suit — for a “country chic” advertising campaign that also featured supermodel Giselle Bundchen. D&G's rights to Hamideh's likeness ended Dec. 31, 2003, he claims.

In April 2012, Hamideh represented actor-model Christian Monzon in a lawsuit over D&G's alleged unauthorised use of Monzon's image in advertising materials for Dolce Gabbana Classico Fragrance. The suit was eventually dismissed.

The month after Hamideh filed the Monzon suit, D&G allegedly used images of Hamideh from the 2002-03 country chic campaign to promote new products on the company’s Facebook page — even though the rights to them had expired more than eight years earlier.

The model-turned-lawyer said Monday that he believes D&G misappropriated images of him as part of a retaliation scheme stemming from the Monzon lawsuit. Hamideh claims he has suffered emotional and economic distress over the incident.

“People may be led to believe that Hamideh has abandoned his crusade to protect models and 'sold out' or aligned himself with the other side,” the complaint argued.

Hamideh said the act constitutes oppression, fraud and malice, and claims D&G has gained financially from using the images illegally.

Johnson & Johnson attorney Douglas L. Johnson called D&G’s alleged retaliation scheme “a low blow.”

“I was disappointed that they would do this to a lawyer who spent quite a bit of time changing his career path to become an advocate for models’ rights,” he said.

Hamideh is seeking actual, punitive and statutory damages; injunctive relief; restitution; disgorgement of profits from unauthorised use; a constructive trust; attorneys' fees and costs; and litigation costs.

A representative for the defendant wasn’t immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Hamideh is represented by Douglas L. Johnson and Neville L. Johnson of Johnson & Johnson LLP.

Counsel information for the defendants was not immediately available.

The lawsuit is Bassil A. Hamideh v. Dolce & Gabbana, case No. BC502164, in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of Los Angeles.

Still with Dolce & Gabbana fined 344 million euros by Italian Fiscal Authorities to deal with, sources close to the design house duo feel that this is something that has still a long way to run, will keep you posted.

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Dolce & Gabbana's tax evasion trial begins

Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are on trial for tax evasion in the Italian financial capital, Milan.

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

You may remember from our early post back in October 2012 Date set for Dolce & Gabbana's tax evasion trial, we reported the designer duo were due to appear on the date set for the trial, 03 December 2012, and now it begins with an unexpected twist to the case.

The pair, of Dolce and Gabbana, are accused of owing tax on a sum of over a billion euros in Italy after moving their brand to Luxembourg in 2004.

Prosecutors allege that they sold their firms to a holding company for well below actual market value.

The designers deny the charges and have said that the allegations are "absurd".

They have not made any recent statements since Mr Gabbana criticised the high court's decision last year, threatening, in a tweet, to leave the country from which he draws much of his inspiration.

Each designer is accused of owing taxes on a sum of 416m euros (£337m; $540m), as well as the Luxembourg-based firm owing tax on 200m euros (£162m; $260m), according to Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

Six other people, including the pair's tax consultant, are also on trial.

If found guilty, they risk a sentence of up to five years in prison.

At Monday's hearing, the designers' lawyers requested that the entire trial should be annulled due to procedural irregularities.

The court is due to rule on the request on 14 December.

The investigation into the firm's tax affairs began in 2007. They were initially cleared in April 2011 but Italy's highest court overturned that ruling, ordering that the case should be sent back to trial.

The designers are known the world over, with pop star Madonna and model Naomi Campbell among their famous clients.

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

Rates of both corporate tax, and tax evasion, are among the world's highest in Italy.

Prime Minister Mario Monti has made cracking down on evasion a national priority with a series of high-profile police raids in yacht marinas and chic ski resorts targeting people accused of not paying up.

In 2000, the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti paid more than nine million euros in back taxes when he settled a four-year dispute.

Former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona is also reported to owe some 38m euros in unpaid taxes to the Italian authorities. He has said he wants to clear up his situation.

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