May,24,2017:

On Wednesday, Supreme Court of Spain confirmed the 21-month jail sentence and 2.09-million-euro ($2.25 million) fine imposed on Lionel Messi for the tax fraud, months after Barcelona Football star had lodged an appeal.Lionel Messi and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were in July 2016 found guilty of using the companies situated 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 the year 2007-09.

Income related to Messi's image rights that was hidden includes endorsement the deals with Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Kuwait Food Company.

Both Lionel Messi and his father were given 21 months in jail and the sentences likely to be suspended as is common in Spain for the first offences for non-violent crimes carrying a sentence of less than two years.

They appealed to Supreme Court.

 While Supreme Court confirmed sentence for Lionel Messi, it reduced it to 15 months jail for his father, taking into account that his football star son had paid back defrauded money to the tax authorities.
During the last year's trial, Messi had argued that he trusted his father with his finances and "knew nothing" about how his wealth was being managed.
But Supreme Court  had expounded that he would have known about his obligation to pay the taxes on his income earned from his image rights.

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