Lionel Messi’s Tax Fraud Conviction

Argentine footballer Lionel Messi was found guilty of defrauding Spain of €4.1 million between 2007 and 2009. Spanish prosecutors said Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, used tax havens to hide income from image rights. In 2016, a court handed Messi a 21-month prison sentence, though he did not serve time because Spanish law allowed first-time offenders with sentences under two years to avoid jail. In 2017, Spain’s Supreme Court upheld the conviction, and Messi’s sentence was later replaced with a fine.

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