Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi, charged with a 21-month prison sentence for tax fraud, has now been fined instead by Spanish courts.
The Argentinian international must pay €400 for each day of the sentence, or in other words, €400 X 21 months X 30 days per month = €252,000. His father Jorge instead will pay a €180,000 fine instead of facing a 15-month sentence.
Messi was found guilty, along with his father Jorge, of defrauding the Spanish treasury of €4.1 million between 2007 and 2009 by using tax havens to conceal revenues form image rights. They made a voluntary €5 million payment to cover the unpaid tax plus interest, back in August 2013.
The 30 year-old Messi was never expected to serve any prison time due to Spanish law which allows prison terms of under two years to be served under probation.
Last month their attempt to appeal the sentence was rejected by Spain’s Supreme Court, however his father’s jail time was reduced due to some of the taxes already paid.
In addition to Messi, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo is also under investigation for tax fraud.
To prepare his defense, Ronaldo has hired the law firm Baker & McKenzie.
