Messi: Supreme Court upholds 21-month jail term for Barça star
The Barcelona star's appeal was thrown out by Spain's top court but the sentence will be suspended. Messi's father, Jorge, had his punishment reducedBarcelona vs Deportivo La Coruña: LaLiga
The Spanish Supreme Court has upheld a 21-month jail sentence and a two-million-euro fine imposed on Barcelona star Leo Messi for tax fraud, months after lodging an appeal against the initial ruling.
Messi was sentenced in July 2016, but it is likely to be suspended as is common in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying a sentence of less than two years.
The Argentina international and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were in July 2016 found guilty of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on 4.16 million euros of Messi's income earned from his image rights from 2007-09.
The income related to Messi's image rights that was hidden includes endorsement deals with Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and the Kuwait Food Company.
Messi Sr's jail term reduced
While the court confirmed the sentence for Messi on Wednesday, it reduced it to 15 months jail for his father, taking into account that his son had paid back the defrauded money to tax authorities.
During last year's trial, Messi had argued that he trusted his father with his finances and "knew nothing" about how his wealth was managed.
But the Supreme Court argued that he would have known about his obligation to pay taxes on income earned from his image rights.
Messi's tax fraud trial in June last year took place against a backdrop of simmering voter anger over steep cuts to health and social spending, as the government struggles to bring Spain's public deficit down.