No one really cares about this but me, but my instincts were right!! It took years for my gut-instinct to pay off and here we are. In 2022, Shakira discovered that her longtime partner Gerard Pique was cheating on her in her home in Barcelona. She left Pique and within a few months, she moved to Miami. Throughout 2023, the Spanish tax authorities threw dozens of charges at Shakira, claiming that she was a tax fraud and she owed Spain tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. Keep in mind, Shakira is not a Spanish citizen, she only ever lived in Spain part-time because she was with the cheater Pique, and for most of her decades-long career, she employed PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the internationally renowned accounting firm.

Back in 2023, I said that the Spanish authorities were coming across like total scammers, like they were just charging Shakira with all of these tax-fraud charges because she was a big celebrity target and because she escaped Spain after her relationship ended. In late 2023, Shakira ended the ordeal with a plea deal which had her paying tens of millions to the Spanish government. I ate my words and I was like, oh, maybe the charges weren’t a scam. Nope. The whole thing has just been overturned and Shakira has been cleared.

Shakira has been acquitted of tax fraud related to her 2011 income by the Spanish High Court. The ruling was issued on Monday, May 18, according to Reuters and the BBC, with Spain’s High Court overturning the €55 million (about $64 million) fine imposed in 2021 by the Spanish tax agency. A rep for Shakira tells PEOPLE the Spanish government must now return over €60 million (about $70 million) to the “Hips Don’t Lie” singer, 49.

According to Shakira’s rep, authorities were unable to prove the four-time Grammy winner spent 183 days in Spain in 2011, the minimum required amount for residents to pay personal income tax in the country. The ruling does not affect tax years after 2011, per Reuters and the BBC.

According to Reuters, the Spanish tax agency previously argued Shakira was linked to the country due to her former relationship with Spanish former professional soccer player Gerard Piqué, with whom she shares sons Milan, 13, and Sasha, 11.

Shakira said in a statement, “After more than eight years of enduring brutal public targeting, orchestrated campaigns to destroy my reputation, and sleepless nights that ultimately impacted my health and my family’s well-being, the National High Court has finally set the record straight. There was never any fraud, and the Administration itself could never prove otherwise, simply because it wasn’t true,” continued the “She Wolf” artist. “Yet, for nearly a decade, I was treated as guilty. Every step of the process was leaked, distorted, and amplified, using my name and public image to send a threatening message to the rest of the taxpayers.”

Shakira added, “Today, that narrative crumbles, and it does so with the full force of a court ruling. My greatest wish is that this ruling sets a precedent for the Treasury and serves the thousands of ordinary citizens who are abused and crushed every day by a system that presumes their guilt and forces them to prove their innocence at the cost of economic and emotional ruin. This victory is dedicated to them.”

José Luis Prada, a lawyer for Shakira and managing partner of Prada Tax Advisors, said in a statement, “This resolution comes after an eight-year ordeal that has taken an unacceptable toll, reflecting a highly flawed administrative practice. Shakira had the strength and resources to see this through to the end, but this modus operandi suffocates many ordinary taxpayers who do not have the means to defend themselves. For this reason, it is an immense relief and a source of deep pride to witness the rigor and independence of our courts.”

His statement concluded, “It comforts us to see that, when faced with unacceptable administrative stances, we can rely on a justice system that truly works and ensures the rule of law.”

[From People]

It’s interesting that she was still able to pursue this legally given her plea deal, but I don’t know the ins and outs of Spanish tax law. During this ordeal, I read a lot about Shakira and I read her interviews, where she sounded like she had all of her documentation and evidence. That’s why I was surprised she took the plea deal in the first place, but it looks like she did so knowing that she could continue to fight back and clear her name. It’s crazy that the Spanish government really forced Shakira to hand over $70 million and they didn’t have anything but vibes to back up their case. Spanish douchebags really f–ked her over in like twenty different ways.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.