Lionel Messi Exonerated of Tax Fraud in Barcelona Court, Father May Face Prison

Barcelona star Lionel Messi will not have to stand trial for tax fraud after being acquitted by prosecutors in Spain on Tuesday, but his father could face 18 months in prison.  

According to Joaquim M. Bertran of Sport, Jorge Messi has taken full responsibility for the unreported income accrued via the sale of the footballer's image rights.

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The piece claims that as well as a jail term, Jorge could be set for a fine of €2 million; it was reported the taxman has apparently been defrauded out of over €4 million.

AS claim “prosecutors think [Lionel] Messi didn't know what was going on with his tax affairs” and, as such, have exonerated him.

The Barcelona man seemed set to stand trial for the allegations after a local court rejected appeals made by the footballer’s lawyers earlier this year. It was claimed then there was evidence that Lionel had benefited, whether knowingly or not, after defrauding the taxman out of the aforementioned sum.

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The pair were initially accused of avoiding reporting earnings in Spain by selling image rights to companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. According to BBC, the income is in relation to deals with "Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company."

A state attorney will now liaise with the prosecutor’s office to make a final decision on whether or not this ruling shall stand.