“I was playing football. I had no idea about anything.” That was the testimony today from Lionel Messi during his trial on tax fraud charges.
The 28-year-old football star also told the court that he did not actively participate in managing his finances, instead relying on others. “I trusted my dad and my lawyers,” he explained, noting that he did not read documents that he signed. “I only worried about playing football,” he claimed.
Messi’s statements confirmed testimony offered earlier in the week when his former tax advisors told the court that they only dealt with Messi’s father. The Barcelona star’s defense has long been that he did not do anything wrong and relied on his father to handle his financial arrangements.
Messi’s father, Jorge, also confirmed that to be the case, telling the court just before Messi took the stand, “I always tried to make his life easy.” Jorge went on to deny any wrongdoing, saying that he, too, relied on advice from professionals. “All of this was like basic Chinese to me, I did not understand anything. I asked (the advisors) to look after our assets … and they told us this was the best way.”
Messi’s trial testimony took less than 15 minutes. Today was his only appearance at trial: he had missed the opening statements on Tuesday; his lawyers noted that he had been injured in a game last week. Neither he nor his father will attend the final day of his trial for closing arguments.
The trial stems from charges filed in 2013 when Spanish tax authorities alleged 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 is said to date back to 2005, authorities claim that income from lucrative contracts with such companies as Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Adidas was funneled offshore to Belize and Uruguay through an elaborate maze of entities and countries to avoid paying income tax in Spain.
Messi has consistently maintained that he did not do anything wrong. Nonetheless, shortly after the charges against him were made public, he took steps to clear the tax debt, making a “corrective payment” of €5 million ($6.57 million U.S.). That did not, however, discourage Spanish tax authorities who claimed that Messi should not get a pass for choosing not to be involved in his finances. Last year, when ruling that he must stand trial on the charges, the court found that even if he had not been aware of the specific details, he had clearly benefited from the scheme.
Now, the court must determine whether he and his father (or perhaps, he or his father) actually broke the law. A verdict is expected next week. If found guilty, the pair could face jail time and fines: however, as with Messi’s teammate Mascherano, the sentence for a non-violent crime in Spain generally does not result in actual jail time even if sentenced.
Due to his trial, Messi did not train with the Argentine team this week in preparation for the Copa America. The tournament starts tomorrow but lucky for Messi, the Argentina team doesn’t begin play until Monday.
