A Spanish court sentenced Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi to 21 months in prison on Wednesday morning for three counts of tax fraud, the BBC reported.
The Barcelona forward and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, both received time for defrauding Spain of 4.1 million euros (about $4.5 million) between 2007 and 2009. As reported by the Spanish-language newspaper El Periódico, the Barcelona court also hit the pair with fines of about $2.2 million for hiding the true extent of their income from image rights. According to the sentencing document, the pair sequestered earnings using tax havens in Belize and Uruguay as well as shell companies in the U.K. and Switzerland, “countries whose tax law would permit a lack of transparency.”
It’s unlikely father and son will spend a day in jail, however. The sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court, and Spanish law allows tax prison sentences for less than two years to be served with probation. CNN also reports that because this was Messi’s first offense he won’t be required to serve time as long as he doesn’t break the law again.
Messi and his father denied the charges. The star forward had previously claimed during a four-day trial in early June that he had signed financial documents without reading them, trusting his father’s counsel as his off-the-field business manager.
“I just played football,” the 29 year-old told the judge last month, as reported by ESPN. “I signed the contracts because I trusted my dad and the lawyers and we had decided that they would take charge of those things.”
But that defense didn’t fly. More from ESPN:
Spanish prosecutors said that even though Messi was mostly unfamiliar with tax issues, there was enough evidence to believe that he could have known and consented to the fictitious structure created to avoid paying taxes on income from his image rights.
“Even 10-year-old children understand” that taxes have to be paid in full, said Mario Maza, a prosecutor for the Abogacia del Estado, Spain’s state bar, in June.
Messi’s team, FC Barcelona, released a statement on its website Wednesday defending Messi and calling him “in no way criminally responsible” for the fraud.
FC Barcelona gives all its support to Leo Messi and his father with relation to the sentence for tax evasion handed out by the Provincial Court in Barcelona today.
The Club, in agreement with the Government prosecution service, considers that the player, who has corrected his position with the Spanish Tax Office, is in no way criminally responsible with regards to the facts underlined in this case.
FC Barcelona continues to be at the disposal of Leo Messi and his family to support him in whatever action he decides to take in defence of his honesty and his legal interests.
