Lionel Messi's trial for alleged tax fraud begins in Spain

WINNER: Messi nets elusive prize

LIONEL Messi’s tax fraud trial has begun in Spain.

The Barcelona and Argentina football star and his father Jorge, who manages his financial affairs, are accused of defrauding Spain of more then €4m between 2007 and 2009.

Authorities claim the pair used tax havens Belize and Uruguary to hide their earnings from image rights.

While the Hacienda is calling for heavy fines and prison time, they both deny any wrongdoing.

Leniency could be shown given that the amounts concerned have since been paid to the Hacienda voluntarily, and no bail was set because of the high amount of collaboration between the accused and the investigators.

Additionally, the public prosecution service recommended the case against Messi be dropped, as it is possible his father carried out the offence without him knowing.

Messi will appear before the court in Barcelona on Thursday.

The trial is expected to last three days.

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Laurence Dollimore

Laurence Dollimore is a Spanish-speaking, NCTJ-trained journalist with almost a decade’s worth of experience.
The London native has a BA in International Relations from the University of Leeds and and an MA in the same subject from Queen Mary University London.
He earned his gold star diploma in multimedia journalism at the prestigious News Associates in London in 2016, before immediately joining the Olive Press at their offices on the Costa del Sol.
After a five-year stint, Laurence returned to the UK to work as a senior reporter at the Mail Online, where he remained for two years before coming back to the Olive Press as Digital Editor in 2023.
He continues to work for the biggest newspapers in the UK, who hire him to investigate and report on stories in Spain.
These include the Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mail Online, Mail on Sunday and The Sun and Sun Online.
He has broken world exclusives on everything from the Madeleine McCann case to the anti-tourism movement in Tenerife.

GOT A STORY? Contact newsdesk@theolivepress.es or call +34 951 273 575 Twitter: @olivepress

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