Tax fraud charges against Barça's Messi dropped; father still stands accused
Tuesday, October 6, 2015 @ 11:30 PM
BARÇA FC's Lionel 'Leo' Messi has been released from tax fraud charges – but his father could face 18 months in jail.
The Argentinian player and his dad Jorge were said to have evaded over €4 million in tax payable to the Spanish State between 2007 and 2009 for Leo's image rights by stashing the funds in offshore accounts in Belize and Uruguay.
But Messi Junior's solicitor said the sports star had never even read the paperwork and had no knowledge of finance in general, leaving it all to his father to deal with.
And Messi Senior said he had placed it all in the hands of accountants and trusted them to do the right thing.
The Barça golden boy's earnings relate to royalties for use of his name and face in advertising campaigns, and include lucrative modelling deals with Pepsi-Cola, Adidas, Banco Sabadell, Procter & Gamble, Danone and The Kuwait Food Company.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com