Lionel Messi Handed 21-month Jail Term Over Tax Evasion

[caption id="attachment_9729" align="alignnone" width="620"]Lionel Messi (front right) and his father Jorge Horacio Messi (back left)[/caption]

A Barcelona court has sentenced both Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, to 21 months in prison over tax evasion.

The court found the soccer star and his father guilty of three counts charge of tax fraud amounting to €4.1m between 2007 and 2009.

Messi, during the trial, insisted he knew nothing about how his money was being managed, adding that he most of the times signed documents without going through them properly.

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The Barcelona star and his father were accused of using tax havens in Uruguay and Belize to hide over £3m in earnings from image rights.

Both men are unlikely to be imprisoned because under Spanish law, jail terms below two years and for a first-time non-violent offence can be served under probation.

Howeve, the footballer and his father have been fined about €2m and his father €1.5m respectively.

In 2013, they voluntarily made a “corrective payment” of €5m to cover the alleged unpaid tax and interest.

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Lionel Messi has won the FIFA World Player of the Year five times.

He quit international football last month, after his side lost the 2016 Copa America to Chile at the MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, United States.

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