Spain Supreme Court Confirms Messi Fraud Sentence
Months after Barcelona football star lodged an appeal, Spain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed a 21-month jail sentence and 2.09-million-euro ($2.25 million) fine imposed on Lionel Messi for tax fraud.
The Argentina international and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were in July 2016 found guilty of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on 4.16 million euros of Messi’s income earned from his image rights from 2007-09.
The income related to Messi’s image rights that was hidden includes endorsement deals with Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and the Kuwait Food Company.
During last year’s trial, Messi had argued that he trusted his father with his finances and “knew nothing” about how his wealth was managed.
But the Supreme Court argued that he would have known about his obligation to pay taxes on income earned from his image rights.
Messi’s tax fraud trial in June last year took place against a backdrop of simmering voter anger over steep cuts to health and social spending, as the government struggles to bring Spain’s public deficit down.
