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Neymar Tax Evasion Case: Star Ordered To Pay $52.2 Million [Video]

By Toni Matthews
Published on: 04:24 PST, Mar 20, 2016

https://youtu.be/84qqdjOYjbU

International soccer star Neymar of FC Barcelona is serving as a tax time reminder of why it’s important to get your taxes done — and done honestly.

The Inquisitr previously reported that Neymar’s assets were frozen by Brazil’s Sao Paulo federal court. It was revealed that officials had suspected the 24-year-old Brazilian forward of lying about income earned between 2011 and 2013. This includes, as quoted from the Daily Mail, “undeclared earnings” from his former club Santos, his current club Barcelona, and main sponsor Nike.

Now, multiple news outlets are reporting that Neymar has been found guilty of tax evasion.

Bleacher Report delivers the details.

“According to the court ruling, Neymar used his company, Neymar y Deporte Marketing y N + N, N & N Consulting y Gestion de Activos, to avoid the payment of [about $52 million in] taxes between 2012 and 2014,” Llorens wrote. It’s also reported the 24-year-old “used false contracts to circumvent paying the full tax amount due.”

The Bleacher Report and AS write that Neymar has the right to appeal the court’s judgement, which would force him to shell out a staggering $52.2 million in owed taxes and fines for failure to pay what was owed. Neymar has, to the surprise of no one, opted to appeal.

The Daily Mail writes that last month, the tax case led to him having tens of millions of dollars in assets frozen. This includes the Barcelona player’s yacht, private jet, and several properties.

If that’s not bad enough, Neymar may also find himself being asked to pay out millions of more dollars, as this current tax evasion case has run “parallel to two more fraud probes.” Brazilian investment fund DIS is saying that if there was money hidden by Neymar and Barcelona (as to the full value of his trade cost) than they are owed money, as the investment fund owns 40 percent of the player’s rights.

Meanwhile, an ongoing tax investigation in Spain suggests that Barcelona knowingly withheld the full cost of acquiring Neymar. The company is accused of hiding his full transfer fee by falsely allocating money to other transactions. That is a severe accusation at a club that has repeatedly come under fire for dishonest transfer practices.

There seems to be a growing amount of truth to those allegations. The Buenos Aires Herald shed some rather interesting light on the role Barcelona may have played in this tax evasion judgement.

“The allegations refer to image rights contracts from 2006 when a teenaged Neymar was playing for Santos. Prosecutors allege further fraud occurred during negotiations to take him to Barcelona in 2011. He eventually joined the Catalan side in 2013.

“Neymar signed several contracts with Santos and Barcelona to do publicity work but the money was paid into his father’s accounts in order to reduce their tax burden, prosecutors allege.

“They also said he provided false information on some contracts.”

The ongoing tax scandals even resulted in former Barcelona president Alexandre Rosell Feliu resigning as the club’s chairman after allegedly having “swindled Spanish tax authorities out of 13 million euros” or $14.65 million.

It would appear that tax problems run in the family. According to Bleacher Report, Neymar’s own father was ordered to pay a $112,680 fine for failing to pay taxes between 2007 and 2008.

One thing is certain, the negative talk of tax scandals hasn’t necessarily put a dent in Neymar’s earning potential for FC Barcelona. There is talk that Neymar’s earnings could jump up to as much as $25 million per year at Barcelona. If he were to manage to bring in that much, it could certainly help him pay off his tax debt with relative ease in the future.

…Depending on what’s leftover after taxes.

[AP Photo/Manu Fernandez]

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