Messi given 21 months for tax fraud, likely to avoid prison
MADRID — Lionel Messi and his father were sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud by a Barcelona-based court on Wednesday, with both sentences likely to be suspended.
The court found the Barcelona star and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, each guilty of three counts of defrauding tax authorities of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million).
In Spain, sentences of less than two years for first offences are usually suspended, meaning neither man would go to jail. That decision, however, rests with the court.
The court also fined Messi 2 million euros and his father 1.5 million euros.