In 2013, Lionel Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, were charged with tax fraud in Spain. The Spanish authorities alleged that the pair had used companies in Belize, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom to evade paying taxes on Messi’s image rights income between 2007 and 2009.
The case went to trial in 2017, and both Messi and his father were found guilty of tax fraud. Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison, though under Spanish law, first-time offenders convicted of non-violent crimes can serve their sentences on probation. Messi’s father was also given a prison sentence, but he was reduced to probation due to his advanced age.
Both Messi and his father appealed the convictions, and in 2018, an appeals court in Spain upheld the original verdict but reduced Messi’s prison sentence to probation. The case received widespread media attention and sparked debate about tax evasion in Spain and beyond.
