Jorge Messi's father: Ready to go to jail in place of his son.

A prison sentence of 2-6 years is hanging over Lionel Messi's head if he is found guilty of tax evasion on September 17th at the Gava court in Barcelona. But Barcelona fans can rest assured that Messi couldn't go to jail even if he wanted to, because in the worst-case scenario, his father, Jorge Messi, is ready to serve time in prison for him.

Leo's father handles all his finances.

Valentino Rossi, Aranxta Sanchez Vicario, Steffi Graf, Boris Becker, Luis Figo, Diego Maradona, Harry Redknapp, Samuel Eto'o… countless big names in sports have been accused of tax evasion, but none of them have gone to jail! The question is how much Messi will have to pay in fines.

El Periodico previously reported that Messi intended to pay 9 million euros to the Gava prosecutor's office to drop the trial on September 17th. However, for the prosecutors, that amount was too little to clear his name. So, will the "World's Best Player" for the past four years have to pay much more to have his conviction for evading over 4 million euros in taxes for three consecutive years overturned?

Messi's family refused to pay more and were ready to... go to court. This development worried the Barcelona board, forcing them to intervene. Because if they didn't help, who knows, the Gava court might actually send Messi to jail! So, besides his family, the Barcelona board is also supporting Messi in this case.

In a recent interview with the Argentinian press regarding the tax evasion allegations, Messi said: “I am very calm, there is nothing to worry about. I am not involved; everything related to taxes is handled by my father and his team of advisors.”

Was that a slip of the tongue from Messi? According to the Los Angeles Times, it's true that at Barca, Messi only played football, while his father and agent Rodolfo Schinocca handled the tax matters.

Thanks to this middleman, Jorge magically manipulated the royalty tax of 4,168,675 euros using companies in Uruguay or Belize. Therefore, from Messi's slip of the tongue, "I'm not involved," one can understand that, at most, the "insider," Jorge, will take the blame, and that's it!

According to Bongdaplus - National Team