Messi and father to go on trial for tax fraud on May 31

The tax fraud trial of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi and his father Jorge has been set for May 31 in Barcelona, a court in Catalonia announced Wednesday.

Messi faces 22months in jail

Messi, who recently won a fifth ballon d’Or after guiding Barca to the treble last term and his father Jorge have been slammed with the charges for allegedly failing to declare $4.69 million in taxes related to his image rights between 2007 and 2009.


The pair are accused of ceding the player’s image rights through front companies in Belize and Uruguay in order to avoid declaring money made from image rights in Spain.

There have been calls for Messi to be dropped as a respondent in the case, considering the alleged fraud was carried out by his father who managed the player’s affairs at the time. This request was however turned down by the judge, who wrote in a court filing that “there are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties.”

Father and son have since denied the allegations, but face prison sentences of 22 and a half months if found guilty. The trial will run until June 3, at the end of the European season, but it could complicate Messi’s participation in the Copa America Centenary which gets underway on the same date.

Source: AFP

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