Lionel Messi Handed 21-Month Jail Term In Spain For Tax Fraud [Updated]

Ballon d’Or award winning football player, Lionel Messi, has been sentenced to 21-months of jail time in Spain for evading taxes. Messi, who plays for Argentina at the international level and for Barcelona football club in Spain, along with his father Jorge Messi, was found guilty for evading taxes worth €4.1 million (approximately $4.5 million) between 2007 to 2009. They were found guilty on three counts of tax fraud on Wednesday.

However, both Lionel Messi and his father Jorge Messi, are unlikely to serve jail term because, according to Spanish law, prison terms under two years can be served under probation. Essentially, since the Messi duo do not have a criminal record from any crimes committed previously, they will not be sent to prison.

The Barcelona court has ordered Messi to cough up a fine of €2 million and his father was asked to pay €1.5 million for evading taxes. Having said that, in a statement, the court also added that Messi and his father can approach the Spanish supreme court for further appeal.

Prosecutors had argued that Messi and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay, and shell companies in the UK and Switzerland, to conceal the earnings from the image rights of Lionel Messi. But during the trial, Messi claimed that he knew nothing about evading taxes and was just concentrating on his game of football. The 29-year-old Messi had admitted in court last month that he wilfully signed many documents presented to him without checking the fine print. He also admitted to visiting a notary’s office to set up a company to handle his finances, without a clue of what was actually going on.

Initially, the Spanish revenue service had almost acquitted Messi, after accepting that he was genuinely unaware of what was happening, and was willing to press all charges on his father instead. However, unfortunately for Messi, another government entity, the state prosecutor (Abogacia del Estado), continued to press charges against Messi. In June, the state prosecutor’s representative Mario Maza argued that even Spanish children knew that taxes are always supposed to be paid in full and that Messi’s claim that he knew nothing about the tax invasion was unbelievable.

Jorge Messi said during the court proceedings, “I understand these laws as much as I understand Chinese. I didn’t have any knowledge of the laws and simply said ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the proposals presented to me. My intention was to make life easier for my son, to accompany him and to allow him to focus on football. Eventually, we needed legal and accounting help.”

News of the tax fraud was first highlighted in 2013. Since then, the Messi duo have paid over €5m in arrears and extra charges, and they are also believed to have paid €10m in taxes in image rights income for the year 2010 and 2011.

Messi’s teammate and Barcelona football star, Javier Mascherano, was also charged with a similar one-year sentence for tax evasion last year. However, just like Messi, Mascherano also walked away without actually serving a jail term.

This news comes close on the heels of Messi announcing his retirement from the Argentina international team after the country’s loss against Chile in the ongoing Euro cup. The loss to Chile was Messi’s third consecutive loss as an Argentine captain in the final match of a major International tournament. About the loss, Messi said, “It’s tough, it’s not the time for analysis. In the dressing room I thought that this is the end for me with the national team, it’s not for me. That’s the way I feel right now, it’s a huge sadness once again and I missed the penalty that was so important.”

[Photo by Alberto Estevez – Pool/Getty Images]