Barcelona’s Messi sentenced to 21 months for tax fraud

BARCELONA — A court in Spain on Wednesday sentenced Barcelona striker Lionel Messi and his father to 21 months in jail for tax fraud and slapped them with a fine of 3.7 million euros ($4.1 million).

But these prison sentences are likely to be suspended as is common in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying a sentence of less than two years.

A court in Spain on Wednesday sentenced Barcelona striker Lionel Messi and his father to 21 months in jail for tax fraud and slapped them with a fine of 3.7 million euros ($4.1 million).

But these prison sentences are 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 and Barcelona star and his father Jorge Horacio Messi were found guilty of using companies in Belize 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 allegedly hidden includes endorsement deals with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble and the Kuwait Food Company.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Obama’s daughters wanted to meet Messi, fails

As the President of the United States, Barack Obama has a lot of perks.

A spanking gorgeous personal plane is just the start and his daughters Sasha and Malia can personally meet Pope Francis.

There’s one thing the leader of the free world can’t do though, and that’s set his daughters with a meeting with Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.

As per ESPNFC.com, Obama was at the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Town Hall in Buenos Aires and he revealed his two daughters asked him if they could see the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

“I also wanted to bring my daughters here so they could see the beauty and the vibrancy of this city,” Obama said. “They’ve already met one famous Argentinean—His Holiness Pope Francis. Now they want to meet [Lionel] Messi, but I could not arrange that.”

Being the most powerful person on earth has a lot of privileges but even the POTUS have to wait for the “Atomic Flea.”

source: sports.inquirer.net