Messi in tax mess

LIONEL Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, will appear in court on September 17 to answer accusations of tax fraud.

The FC Barcelona superstar is accused of evading payment of €4.1 million in taxes from 2007 to 2009.

According to reports, his father had already employed a third party to organize a tax evasion scheme as way back as 2005, when the player was a minor.

If charged and found guilty, the world’s tenth highest-paid athlete could face huge fines and up to six years in prison.