Because Spanish law rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time for any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime, Lionel Messi is unlikely tobe imprisoned despite being handed a 21-month sentence and a $2.2 million fine after being found guilty of three counts of tax fraud by a Spanish court.
The court in Barcelona ruled that Messi,with an estimated income of $350 million in the past 10 years, and his father defrauded the Spanish tax office of $4 million in 2007-2009 by using a web of shell companies to evade taxes on incomefrom the player’s image rights.
Messi admitted during the trial to signing contracts protecting his image rights but said he had no knowledge he was committing any wrongdoing or defrauding theSpanish state.