Lionel Messi Could Face Up To 22-Months In Jail For Tax Fraud

ESPN FC – Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his father Jorge are to both stand trial for three counts of tax fraud against the Spanish tax authorities with the state attorney demanding a 22-month jail sentence, according to court documents made public on Thursday.

Messis Sr and Jr are each accused of defrauding Spain’s tax office of €4.1 million ($4.5m) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09. Earlier this week it was reported that Barcelona prosecutors had cleared the Blaugrana player, alleging that he had been unaware of actions taken on his behalf by his father. However, Spanish news agency EFE and France-based agency AFP are among the outlets reporting that this move has been over-ruled by a higher state authority and the case will progress as before.

So there’s quite a bit to unpack here but first and foremost, this isn’t a new case being brought up against Lionel Messi. The 4x World Player of the Year has been dealing with these charges for a couple years now, but it’s back in the news now because the case was originally reported to be dropped by prosecutors a few days ago. However, that apparently wasn’t the case and now Messi and his father will be standing trial and the lawyers representing the tax authorities in Spain are looking to lock up the world’s best player (who is currently out with a knee injury) in jail for 22-months for his involvement. Okay, so do we have the majority of the context squared away now? Good.

We see these types of situations happen time and time again. We’ve seen it happen with Jack Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets, we’ve seen it here, we’ve seen it there, we’ve seen it everywhere. Any time a star athlete hands over financial control to their parents, shit immediately starts to hit the fans. Lionel Messi is one of the richest athletes in the world and when you have that type of money, maybe just find yourself an actual financial advisor to help you handle all your assets. Because even though you think you can trust your parents with the money, eventually they’re going to screw up and accidentally use offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes because they think they’re helping you out but next thing you know, you’re standing trial and facing up to 22-months in prison because your dad is a jackass.

At the Gava hearing almost two years ago, the Argentina captain said that he did not look after the details of his own finances, leaving such matters to his father and advisors. Messi Sr reportedly told the court that he would take responsibility for any wrongdoing, that the family had been misled by unscrupulous financial advisors, and were now happy to correct any wrongdoings they had unintentionally committed.

I know nothing about the law. I especially no nothing about the Spanish law. My brain is way too tiny to comprehend any of it but from what it looks like, I guess this trial is just to see if Lionel Messi is in any way at fault for these tax fraud chargers or if it’s just his dumb dick dad and whoever else was involved. I’d have to imagine that prosecutors won’t be able to prove that Messi had any actual involvement here and he won’t have to serve any jail time. Truth be told, I just had to put the possible jail sentence in the headline for click bait purposes. Also, the Messis have already paid 5 million euros to cover the money owed from 2007 to 2009 back in 2013 and another 10 million or so since then. So I doubt he’d ever get the maximum sentence regardless. But there’s always the possibility that the best soccer player in the world gets locked up for 22-months still because the law works in mysterious ways.

Here are some photos now of Messi’s girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo, for your time.