The court hearing Lionel Messi’s tax case "has been told the Barcelona player did not have any role in managing his own ‘image rights’ income," according to Dermot Corrigan of ESPN. Messi and his father, Jorge, "gave evidence in court in late September, answering charges the pair evaded" more than €4M ($5.4M) in taxes between '07 and '09 by "routing such 'image rights' income through offshore tax havens." The pair "deny any wrongdoing." The case's judge was "told by experts" from the Spanish tax authorities (Hacienda) in a hearing Wednesday that Messi "did not 'manage' his own image rights." It now "looks likely" that Messi "will not face further direct punishment" (ESPN, 10/31). The DPA reported Messi had already paid the courts a total of €5M ($6.8M) in "reparations" (DPA, 10/30).
MESSI DEFRAUDED IN ARGENTINA: MUNDO DEPORTIVO reported a judge in Messi's hometown of Rosario, Argentina charged Rodolfo Héctor Schinocca, a former Messi family accountant, with keeping €2.5M ($3.4M) in image rights income from Messi from '04-'06, when Messi was a minor. Schinocca has been fined €620,000 ($842,800) (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 10/31).
