Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has pleaded guilty to tax fraud, reducing his two-year jail sentence to a fine of £16.5 million (Rs. 150 crore) in a Madrid court today.

After formally accepting the deal offered by prosecutors, he signed the agreement to pay the fine of nearly Rs. 150 crore after pleading guilty last year to charges brought by Spanish state prosecutors and tax authorities, hence avoiding a two-year jail time.

The 33-year-old was convicted of avoiding paying tax on image rights worth over Rs. 110 crore during his time in Spain between 2011 and 2014, with prosecutors saying he had used a shell company in Virgin Islands to “create a screen in order to hide his total income from Spain's tax office.” Ronaldo's lawyers initially claimed it as a misunderstanding and denied a deliberate attempt at evading tax.

Similar high-profile tax cases have been faced by a number of people in Spain, including footballers Lionel Messi and Jose Mourinho.