Messi accused of cheating Spanish taxman

Spanish financial crime prosecutors have filed a complaint accusing Lionel Messi of tax fraud.
(AFP/Pierre-Philippe Marcou)

The filing reportedly includes the 25-year-old Argentinian international's father, Horacio Messi.

The court in Catalonia, where Messi is resident, could yet refuse to let the complaint proceed, the source said.

If it were to proceed, it could be a huge blow to the prestige of the four-time World Player of the Year, who has long been seen as a more humble figure than most top-class footballers and particularly his Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo.

Messi's achievements on the field have made him one of the most marketable sportsmen in the world.

Indeed, the 25-year-old was ranked 10th amongst Forbes' list of sports star's incomes this month with an annual $21m from endorsements alone.

FC Barcelona declined to comment but said Messi's lawyers would be issuing a statement.

The player and his father are accused of three crimes of defrauding the state of taxes related to income from the use of his image in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, Spanish media said, citing a written copy of the filing.

The striker and his father allegedly avoided taxes on money they raked in from the use of the global star's image in countries such as Britain and Switzerland.

That money allegedly went straight to companies based in tax havens such as Belize and Uruguay.

Messi allegedly ceded his image rights to those companies so as to avoid tax, and he and his father acted with "total opaqueness" towards the Spanish authorities, the written filing reportedly said.

The complaint lodged with the court in Gava, near Barcelona, accused them of defrauding the state of 1.06 million euros in 2007, 1.57 million euros in 2008, and 1.53 million euros in 2009.

The father is accused of being the brains behind the scheme, allegedly setting it up in 2005 before his son turned 18 on June 24 of that year, Spanish media said.

The prosecutor alleged that Messi later agreed with his father's tactics so that he would avoid any taxes on income from the use of his image rights between 2006 and 2009.
The income related to his image rights included contracts with Barcelona, Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Telefonica and Kuwait Food Company, media said.

Messi's net income from image rights reportedly amounted to 2.56 million euros in 2007, 3.82 million euros in 2008 and 3.80 million euros in 2009.