Supreme Court upholds 21-month sentence for Lionel Messi

Spain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a 21-month suspended prison sentence for Barcelona star Lionel Messi in his appeal over three counts of tax fraud, a judicial source confirmed.

However, the Barcelona star’s father, Jorge Messi, has seen his sentence reduced from 21 to 15 months for his cooperation in returning some of the defrauded money.

Neither is likely to serve any jail time, given that under Spanish law a tax prison sentence under two years can be served under probation.

Messi and his father were first sentenced on July 6 last year but launched an appeal, with prosecutors eventually asking the Spanish Supreme Court to review the sentences last month.

Prosecutors in last year’s case judged that Messi and his father had used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay as well as shell companies in the U.K. and Switzerland to avoid paying taxes totalling €4.1 million on earnings from image rights between 2007 and 2009.

The five-time World Player of the Year was also ordered to pay a fine of around €2m at the time, while his father was fined €1.5m.

When news of the investigation first broke in the summer of 2013, Jorge Messi, acting on behalf of the Messis, is reported to have paid over €5m in arrears and extra charges — he is also believed to have paid €10m in taxes due on the image rights income for 2010 and 2011.

Those actions are behind the six-month reduction in his sentence.

Messi said during last year’s trial that he signed many documents when he was younger without reading their contents and had visited a notary’s office to set up a company to handle his finances without understanding what was going on.

But Mario Maza, the state attorney representing the tax authorities at the trial, said he found it unlikely that Messi knew nothing about the situation.

“It could be that they are inexperienced with tax matters and the law and are not able to set up their own companies, but they are able to understand what paying your taxes means,” he added.

Messi is currently in talks over a contract renewal with Barcelona, with his current terms due to expire at the end of next season.

Barcelona have told ESPN FC they are completely confident he will sign a contract extension and Spanish radio reported on Tuesday that a new deal will be signed at the beginning of next season, so that the money is used as part of next year’s budget.