Lionel Messi And Father, Jorge Sentenced To 21-Months Suspended Jail Term Over Tax Fraud

The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around £1.7million (2 million euros) and his father to pay £1.3m (1.5 million euros).

Lionel Messi and his father Jorge have been sentenced to 21 months in prison after a court in Barcelona found him guilty of three counts of tax fraud.

The sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court, a statement from the court said.

It is unlikely Messi or his father will not serve a stretch behind bars, however. Under Spanish law, a prison sentence under two years can be served under probation if you have no prior criminal record.

The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around 2 million euros (£1.7million) and his father to pay 1.5 million euros (£1.3million).

He will, however, have to pay a fine of around €2.3million on top of the reparations already paid to authorities.

When giving evidence earlier this summer, Jorge Messi absolved his son of all blame, with the 28-year-old claiming he did not “read the documents, only sign them.”

It meant that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner had his signature on a raft of documents that channeled income from sponsorship deals through third parties in Belize and Uruguay.

Lionel Messi’s club-mate and former international colleague Javier Mascherano was similarly handed a jail sentence over a tax offence last year but did not ever set foot in a prison.

Source: Mirror Uk