While Lionel Messi will certainly be disappointed with the knee injury suffered against Las Palmas late last month, there is at least some silver lining in his personal life. Spanish prosecutors have dropped charges of tax fraud against the Argentine phenom. His father – Jorge Messi – however, was not as fortunate. For Messi charges dropped; for his father the hammer might drop.
Messi was originally believed to have allegedly withheld around $5 million in income taxes from the Spanish government between 2007 and 2009. And while Messi was exonerated of the tax evasion, prosecutors are seeking an 18-month sentence for his father. In addition to the jail time, the Spanish court wants Jorge to pay up to $2.3 million – or 2 million Euros – in fines.
Though there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Messi’s involvement in tax fraud, which has shrouded the Barcelona forward for years, he has maintained that his father has been controlling his finances since his rise to prominence, and had no knowledge of how his money was being handled.
And according to the Barcelona Provincial High Court, Messi’s father created offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay to help his son avoid paying taxes on earnings licensing and royalties, such as his sponsorship money with brands like Adidas.
Messi's father, Jorge, has been fined up to $2.3 million for his part in tax fraud. Photo: @TheSpecial1s
Messi’s father, Jorge, has been fined up to $2.3 million for his part in tax fraud.
The court wanted to implicate Messi, in addition to father, because his signature had appeared in the contracts since he turned 18. In defense of Messi, his lawyers maintained he did not thoroughly analyze the contracts, and was unaware of the implications.
"It has not proven that [Messi's] lack of knowledge was deliberate or was done with the aim of defrauding the Treasury," the prosecutors wrote. They also requested that Messi acts as a witness to his father’s trial.
While it will certainly leave a blemish on the reputation of his father – and Messi himself by his direct correlation with the controversy – his family should be well off after the fines. After all, the Argentine was the fourth-highest-paid athlete in 2014, earning $64.7 million in salary and endorsements according to a Forbes report.
