Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge, will appeal a Spanish court decision finding the pair guilty of tax fraud.
Lawyers for Messi and his father issued a statement calling the verdict “incorrect.” They went on to note that the amounts of tax at issue had already been resolved: Messi made a “corrective payment” while still denying any wrongdoing, a few months after charges were initially filed.
You can read the entire statement in Spanish here and in English here.
Messi’s lawyers, Enrique Bacigalupo and Javier Sanchez-Vera, indicated that they believed they could prove on appeal that Messi and his father should not have been charged with an “intentional crime.” Messi’s lawyers again stressed that Messi trusted his finances to advisors and that he was not involved directly in the management of his financial affairs.
An appeal of the sentence to the Spanish Supreme Court will likely take a year.
Earlier this week, a Spanish court found Argentine footballer Lionel Messi guilty of three counts of tax fraud. The charges stemmed from allegations raised in 2013 that Messi’s father used a series of shell companies in tax havens to shield royalties and other licensing income from tax. In the scheme, which dated back to 2005, income from lucrative contracts with such companies as Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Adidas was reportedly funneled offshore to Belize and Uruguay through an elaborate maze of entities and countries to avoid paying income tax in Spain.
With the verdict, the soccer star has been sentenced to 21 months in prison. In Spain, those who receive a light prison sentence do not usually serve time unless the offense involves a violent crime or if the defendant is a habitual offender. Typically, a light sentence is one under two years: Messi will likely serve his 21 months as probation. Despite the fact that neither Messi nor his father will see any time in prison, the footballer will appeal. Messi has consistently maintained his innocence.
Messi’s club, FC Barcelona, issued a statement immediately following the verdict, saying, “FC Barcelona expresses its full support to Leo Messi and his father, in relation to the conviction for tax fraud.” The club went on to say that they consider that Messi “does not have any criminal responsibility.” FC Barcelona, thought to be worth $3.16 billion (second on Forbes’ list of the World’s Most Valuable Soccer Teams – just behind La Liga rival Real Madrid), was also expected to go to trial on tax fraud charges – those related to the signing of Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, known to most of the world simply as Neymar. However, earlier this year, the club settled tax charges by agreeing to pay a hefty fine.
