Posted on: 12:30 Wed, 30 Jul 2014



A prosecutor’s request to have tax evasion charges
against Lionel Messi dropped was rejected by a
Spanish judge, according to the Associated Press.
Lionel and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, were
accused of tax fraud in June 2013 for allegedly
failing to pay more than €4 million ($5.37 million) in
taxes by filing false tax returns from 2006 to 2009. In
August of that year, according to the AP, Jorge
Messi paid more than €5 million ($6.7 million) to
cover the alleged unpaid taxes, plus interest.
Last month, Spanish prosecutors asked the judge to
drop charges against the soccer star. The prosecutor
had argued that only Jorge was responsible for the
family’s finances. But the judge rejected the request
and “will allow three cases of suspected unpaid taxes
to go forward” against both men.
If convicted, Lionel and his father could potentially
face a fine of 150 percent of the earnings and
between two and six years in prison.