Lionel Messi facing tax fraud trial

The Barcelona star had his appeal denied and will now face trial for tax fraud.

More from La Liga

Things have been good recently on the pitch for Barcelona superstar forward Lionel Messi. Messi put together a brilliant campaign, leading Barcelona to the UEFA Champions League title on Saturday, and could be on his way to a fifth Balloon d’Or win.

Off the field, Messi is facing some turmoil. The 27-year-old faces trial for $4.6 million dollar tax fraud along with his father Jorge, according to Mashable.com.

The allegations claim that Jorge used companies in Belize and Uruguay to sell rights to Lionel’s image between 2007-2009, which allowed him to avoid paying income tax in Spain. Messi appealed on the grounds that he was unaware of what was happening, but The Barcelona Provincial High Court ruled on Wednesday that he benefitted anyway.

"“In this type of crime, it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the accounting and business operations nor the exact quantity, rather it is sufficient to be aware of the designs to commit fraud and consent to them”"

Note that these are not new allegations. The only development is that Messi’s appeal was denied, so his case will now head to trial.

If anything happened to Messi, it would be devastating for Barcelona and soccer fans in general. There are still lots of details to come out, but the case against Messi appears rather weak on the surface.

While the punishment for such tax fraud could carry a suspended one-year prison sentence for both Messi and his father, that doesn’t seem very likely to happen. Messi will more likely pay fines up to €21 million, a far lesser concern given the total earning of around $64.7 million Messi pulled in last year.

The case didn’t appear to distract Messi much on the field. Messi scored 43 goals in 38 La Liga games while helping set up teammates Neymar and Luis Suarez as part of a very prolific attacking trio.

More from La Liga

Home/La Liga