An Israeli court has convicted Bar Refaeli on four counts of tax offences, capping a prolonged tax evasion case against the top model and her family.

Refaeli entered the Tel Aviv courthouse accompanied by her father, Raffi, her mother, Zipi, and a phalanx of lawyers. The 35-year-old model and her mother confessed to offences of evading paying taxes on income nearing $10m (£7.9m).

According to a plea bargain agreement they signed with authorities last month, Refaeli is to serve nine months of community service while her mother will be sent to prison for 16 months. They are also ordered to pay a $1.5m fine on top of millions of back taxes owed to the state.

The prolonged case, built around the celebrity model’s worldwide income and the family’s attempts to downplay her ties to Israel, damaged her well-crafted public image as an informal ambassador for the country.

Still, she remains a popular TV personality, whose image is seen on highway billboards throughout the country. Last year, she hosted the Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv.

The case revolves around Refaeli’s residency earlier this decade, when she toured the world in high-profile modelling campaigns, appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition and had a relationship with actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Israeli tax law determines residency primarily upon whether the person spent most of the calendar year in the country. Refaeli claimed she had not and therefore did not have to declare her worldwide income in certain years.

But prosecutors rejected her claim and charged her with providing incorrect tax information. For instance, Refaeli’s indictment said she earned $7.2m between the years 2009 and 2012 while claiming to reside overseas to avoid paying taxes on her income.

In previous appeals, an Israeli court ruled that Refaeli’s relationship with DiCaprio did not qualify as a “family unit” and therefore she could not claim his US residence to avoid paying the full taxes she owed.

Refaeli’s lawyers said the plea bargain proved she had not intentionally evaded tax payments. Refaeli’s mother, who also acted as her agent, was charged with failure to report income, avoiding paying taxes and aiding someone else in evading tax payments. The indictment said she signed leases for her daughter under the names of other family members to blur Refaeli’s actual residency status and refrained from declaring her own income as her daughter’s agent.