Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and his
father Jorge have been sentenced to 21
months in prison for tax fraud, Eurosport
reports.
The Messi’s however won’t spent any time
behind bars due to their clean criminal
record.
Lionel Messi
The Messis were found to have evaded tax
on Lionel’s image rights, owing more than
€4m in back payments.
The Court of Catalonia has now taken
action and now sentenced the pair to just
under two years in prison.
Leo Messi had argued that he wasn’t
aware of the tax arrangements set in place
by his father and other advisors.
The state attorney, Mario Maza however
compared the player to a mafia boss, who
denies knowing any the illegal operations
were going on in his name.
The defendants can appeal to the supreme
court, the Barcelona local court said in its
statement. Messi and his father had
already paid 5 million euros to the tax
authorities as a “corrective” measure after
formal investigations were opened.
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