It appears that Lionel Messi's injury is the least of his concerns right now as he is in deeper trouble with the law. A judge in Spain has just rejected the petition made by prosecutors to drop the charges against La Pulga for tax-evasion.
The judge wants to know about how is it possible for Messi not to know what was done with his money and claim that he had no idea about it. If the question can be answered by the defendants in a clear way that appeals to what the judge wants to hear, then Messi will have escaped time in prison.
Messi will have to carefully plan his next move
You think Lionel Messi is going jail for 22 months for tax fraud? He'll dribble out that cell.
— Arsenal News (@__arsenalnews_) October 8, 2015
At this point, Messi and his dad have already made a $5.5 million corrective payment, which is equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus the interest created by it. His father is the person that manages Messi's finances. A pretty tough job considering La Pulga is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world.
"There are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties," were some words written by the judge in a court filing.
In the month of June, the high court in Barcelona ruled that Messi could not be granted impunity for not knowing what was happening with his finances. The 28-year-old player receives money from countless sponsors like Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola along with Procter and Gamble and many others.
Messi is human, he also has problems
Recovering from injury with a vague possibility of jail. Lionel Messi is Tony Soprano circa 2006.
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) October 8, 2015
Prosecutors claim that Jorge (Messi's dad) avoided paying tax on earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay from 2007 to 2009. Recently, the prosecutors had demanded a 22-month sentence for both defendants involved in the case.
At the moment of this publication, the date of the trial has not been set.
