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Lionel Messi in appears in court over tax evasion

By on September 27, 2013
Lionel Messi just before he appeared in a court in Gava over tax evasion

Lionel Messi just before he appeared in a court in Gava over tax evasion

When your about to face a private court over multimillion tax evasion, you don’t usually look happy.  But Lionel Messi stepped out of his White Audi in front of a court in Gava, Barcelona, looking absolutely relaxed.  The world’s greatest footballer is charged with over €4.2 million of tax fraud, but smiled and even gave the thumbs-up sign to his adoring fans as he walked into court amid cheers of “Long live, Messi,” “President Messi,” and “You’re the best.”

Naturally there was the occasional shout of “cheat” from the crowd, but then again Messi was walking into court as the defense of a tax evasion case. The 26-year-old and his father Jorge face €4.2 million worth of tax evasion for his endorsement earnings from 2007 to 2009, and Jorge told media that they are fully cooperating with Spanish authorities.

“The instructions of the Messi family are for total transparency, clarity and collaboration,” Jorge said.

Jorge had previously said he would take all responsibility for potential charges, but claimed that former agent Rodolfo Schinocca was in charge of all irregularities in taxes paid.  The Argentine and his son denied all wrongdoing, pinning the existence of shell companies set up in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the United Kingdom used to hide millions of Euros on Schinocca.

“Lionel was 15 years old at the time, he didn’t have anything to do with this,” Jorge said. “He is a footballer and that’s it. If there was an error, it was by our financial adviser. He created the company. My mistake was to have trusted the adviser. I’m going to take the blame for that. I had confidence in someone I shouldn’t have had.”

But meanwhile, Messi would not want the issue to ruin his fabulous footballing skills.  The forward, who scored again last weekend, is on track to become Barcelona’s highest ever goalscorer as his tally for the Catalonian club has reached 323, but both Messi and Barcelona know certainly could not face a potential one-year prison sentence.  But, for the meantime, Messi should just focus on his footballing, and the more he does, all the better for us, right?

 

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.