Red card: Messi convicted of tax evasion
MADRID: Barcelona’s Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi was sentenced on Wednesday to 21 months in prison and fined 2 million euros ($2.2 million) after being found guilty of three counts of tax fraud, although it is unlikely he will serve time.
The Barcelona court handed the same sentence to the player’s father, Jorge, with a 1.5 millioneuro fine. Both defendants have around five days to appeal to the supreme court, the Barcelona court said in its statement.
Spanish law is such that any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time. A spokeswoman for the court confirmed Messi was unlikely to be imprisoned.
Messi, 29, and his father defrauded the Spanish tax office of almost 4.2 million euros between 2007 and 2009 by using a web of shell companies to evade taxes on income from the player’s image rights, the court said in a written ruling.
The companies — with names such as Sport Consultants and Sport Enterprises — were based in tax havens such as Belize, Uruguay and Switzerland where legislation kept the identities of their owners secret, according to the ruling.
Messi, five-time World Player of the Year, admitted during the trial to signing contracts protecting his image rights but said he had no knowledge he was defrauding the Spanish state. He said his father had control over his financial affairs, but the court said on Wednesday that this was not enough to avoid charges.
Messi, who has held Spanish nationality since 2005, and his father had already paid 5 million euros to the tax authorities as a “corrective” measure after formal investigations were opened.
The footballer is 10th on Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s highest-earning athletes over the past decade, with an estimated income of $350 million during this period.
MUMBAI: Lionel Messi’s 21-month jail sentence for tax fraud could hit the football star’s brand endorsements worldwide, including with Tata Motors.
A Barcelona court on Wednesday sentenced Lionel Messi and his father Jorge Horacio Messi to 21 months in jail for defrauding tax authorities of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million). Under the Spanish law, a prison sentence under two years can be served under probation. This means the Messis may not go to jail.
Tata Motors had signed Messi as its brand ambassador in November, 2015 ahead of the launch of its Tiago hatchback. The deal was estimated at around ₹12-15 crore. Messi is featured in advertisements all over the country in print, TV and billboards.
But Messi’s sentencing may not go down well with the Tatas .
“We do not have any comment on this till we have further details,” a Tata Motors spokesperson said.
Earlier, when Messi had announced his retirement from international football late last month, Tata Motors had said their association with the brand ambassador wouldn’t change.
However, brand experts feel his image would take a hit, and a company as big as Tata Motors may not want to have such a brand ambassador.
“If you look at the sentencing, Messi may or may not go to jail. But, sentencing is sentencing. It means that a law of a particular land was not followed, and it’s an economic offence. Knowing the ethos of the Tatas, they will not want to touch Messi,” said Harish Bijoor, a brand expert.
He said there might be a clause in the contract for terminating the deal in specific instances without having to shell out huge severance fines.