Barcelona Defender Javier Mascherano Sentenced To A Year In Prison Over Tax Evasion

Javier Mascherano has been sentenced to a year in prison but is unlikely to ever serve time in jail, after a verdict was reached in his tax evasion case.

The Argentine has been fined €815,000 and handed a year’s sentence for two counts of fiscal crimes committed in 2011 and 2012.

Mascherano has previously admitted to the offences, repaid the money owed and paid a hefty fine as recompense.

After such compliance with the investigation, the court is expected to grant the wish of Mascherano and his lawyer, David Aineto, in suspending the custodial sentence in exchange for a further fine.

The Barcelona star said in a statement released on Thursday: “I’m a professional sportsman and I don’t know a lot about legal and financial matters.

“Therefore I must rely on the people that manage these technical, and for me, complicated, issues.

“All my career I have been an honest and responsible person… I will take this experience that has accosted me as another experience which I will leave stronger and calmed by the fact that I am once again within the law.”