Mika Noronen, the former NHL goalie who played for the Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks, got himself into trouble. He didn't include his NHL pension on his tax return on his home turf, Finland.
The Finnish courts slapped him with a tax fraud conviction. They even gave him a 60-day jail sentence, but luckily for Noronen, it got suspended because he had no prior run-ins with the law.
Noronen's NHL pension kicked in when he hit 40 in 2019. He got his hands on nearly USD 150,000, but when tax time rolled around, he forgot to mention it on his return.
Noronen's defense was that it was all a big misunderstanding. He claimed he didn't mean to dodge taxes; he just messed up. He argued that he eventually gave up what he owed, along with some hefty interest.
The judge bought his story, acknowledging that Noronen wasn't out to pull a fast one on the taxman intentionally. Breaking the tax rules is breaking the law, so he wasn't let off without penalty.
