Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has said his prison sentence for tax fraud is "based on nothing at all" after it was confirmed by the country's top court.
The upholding of the billionaire tycoon's four-year sentence makes it his first ever definitive conviction in up to 30 court cases.
However, three of the years are covered by an amnesty so the term will be commuted to one year, and Berlusconi is likely to be granted community service or house arrest instead.
The court also ordered a review of the five-year ban on public office that was part of the lower court's sentence. This will be determined by another court.
The five-judge panel began its deliberation of Berlusconi's last-resort appeal on Thursday at the culmination of two days of arguments by prosecutors and his defence.
Berlusconi has also been found guilty of sex with an underage prostitute The 76-year-old and three others were convicted in October of tax fraud in the purchase of television rights for Berlusconi's Mediaset network.
The court heard how they were behind a scheme to purchase the rights to broadcast US movies on Mediaset television networks through a series of offshore companies, and had falsely declared the payments to avoid taxes.
Prosecutors further alleged they inflated the price for the TV rights of some 3,000 films as they re-licensed them internally to Berlusconi's networks, pocketing the difference amounting to around €250m (£200m).
In a video statement released after the ruling, Berlusconi said he had been the victim of more than 20 years of persecution.
"This sentence is based on nothing at all and will take away my personal liberty and my political rights," he said.
"I never devised any system of fiscal fraud. No false invoice exists in the history of Mediaset," Berlusconi said in a video message following the court's decision."
Berlusconi casts his votes in February's elections. He still has influence. The ruling to uphold his conviction threatens the stability of Premier Enrico Letta's fragile coalition government, which depends on his cross-party support to approve reforms needed to help Italy out of recession.
Berlusconi has no official role in the government, but he remains influential in the centre-right and backers already slowed Parliament's work last month after the high court put his case on the docket this summer, instead of the fall, to prevent some of the charges from expiring.
Speaking after the court's ruling, the Italian President, Giorgio Napolitano, said that serenity and cohesion was crucial for the country.
However, for many the ruling was cause for celebration. Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement party wrote in a blog: "Berlusconi is dead. His conviction is like the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989."
In June, the three-time, and Italy's longest-serving, premier was found guilty of paying for sex with underage prostitute, Karima El Mahroug, also known as Ruby the Heart Stealer.
He was sentence to seven years in prison and banned from holding public office but has appealed against his conviction.
During his trial, the court in Milan heard dozens of young women, including Miss El Mahroug, who was 17 at the time, were paid with cash and cars to attend Berlusconi's so-called "bunga bunga" parties and dance semi-naked for him.
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