10 - Lionel Messi - v4

[Topolino]

Ofcourse not. Quite disgusted by them. The only thing I believe is that Leo himself really doesn't understand anything. His father on the other hand is a whole different story.

 

[El Flaco]

Everything about Messi from the article regarding Panama papers

Among the names: Lionel Messi.

The Barcelona star, a five-time world player of the year, is already under indictment in Spain on charges that he and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, used offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay to stiff the government out of millions of dollars in taxes.

The leaked documents show that Messi and his father owned yet another offshore company in Panama: Mega Star Enterprises.

The first reference to the company in Mossack Fonseca’s files came on June 13, 2013 - one day after Spanish prosecutors first filed tax fraud charges against Messi and his father. An email indicated that responsibility for handling the company’s paperwork was being transferred to Mossack Fonseca from another offshore corporate agent.

The first reference in the files to the Messis owning Mega Star came less than two weeks later, on June 23rd, 2013.

Through his father, Messi declined to comment for this story.

(...)

The soccer players whose names appear in the Mossack Fonseca files hail from Brazil, Uruguay, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Serbia, The Netherlands and Sweden, among other countries. Most seemed to have used the law firm’s services to create offshore companies to hold the money they earned selling their image rights to athletic shoe companies and other advertisers.

Lionel Messi and his father, who served as his son’s agent, are slated to stand trial on tax fraud charges starting May 31st. Accused of shortchanging the government out of nearly $6.5 million in taxes by shielding his image rights in an offshore network, Messi has paid the back taxes the government said he owed for the years 2007-2009.

Messi denies that he deliberately tried to deceive anyone.

Mega Star Enterprises, the offshore company owned by Messi and his father at least as far back as 2013 , is not mentioned in the Spanish government’s 2014 and 2015 indictments against the pair. The leaked records show Messi signed at least one document reflecting his ownership of Mega Star, but that his father, Jorge Messi, took over sole ownership of the company in December 2015. The company remains active in Panama’s company register.

Messi isn’t alone when it comes to using offshore havens.

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/...s-become-enmeshed-in-offshore-world-1.2595555

As if the whole drama regarding Leo's current tax problems wasn't enough, I fully expect the media will have a field day as this has the potential to be a even further distraction for Barcelona and not least Leo himself.

 

[Alarcón]

When is he finally going to jail?

 

[Yannik]

Ofcourse not. Quite disgusted by them. The only thing I believe is that Leo himself really doesn't understand anything. His father on the other hand is a whole different story.

Are you really that sure about it? I can't really believe that every player that commits tax fraud is unaware of this. They can always plead unknowingness in front of court because technically someone else is executing their finances, but I really can't believe that their accountants or relatives do such stuff behind their back without even letting them know about it.
But yeah, there are no evidences to this claim, it just sounds much more plausible to me.

 

[Topolino]

Are you really that sure about it? I can't really believe that every player that commits tax fraud is unaware of this. They can always plead innocence in front of court because technically someone else is executing their finances, but I really can't believe that their accountants or relatives do such stuff behind their back without even letting them know about it.
But yeah, there are no evidences to this claim, it just sounds much more plausible to me.

The only thing why I think it's plausible is that he really doesn't have time to think about those things.

He travels a lot, plays a lot, trains a lot, does commercial stuff a lot. He has very little time to actually think about what's going on there. Let alone think about it in depth - someone probably tells him it's all ok, he might ask a question and they say don't worry. That someone might be his father.

Besides, he hasn't got the education to really manage that money. Neither does his father, and that makes me wonder if maybe at some point some wiseguy went there and told them "I'll take care of everything, you just sign those papers".

 

[slvtn]

It's not reasonable to me that people who earn more money than they can ever spend still need to f- with taxes and risk their careers. Completely out of mind.

 

[Barcaman]

It's not reasonable to me that people who earn more money than they can ever spend still need to f- with taxes and risk their careers. Completely out of mind.

Agreed

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

It's not reasonable to me that people who earn more money than they can ever spend still need to f- with taxes and risk their careers. Completely out of mind.

Every filthy rich person is corrupt. I don't even need to mention companies which are a priori corrupt and bend rules to maximize profits.
Look at siemens and volkswagen as examples in your country.

 

[Yannik]

The only thing why I think it's plausible is that he really doesn't have time to think about those things.

He travels a lot, plays a lot, trains a lot, does commercial stuff a lot. He has very little time to actually think about what's going on there. Let alone think about it in depth - someone probably tells him it's all ok, he might ask a question and they say don't worry. That someone might be his father.

Besides, he hasn't got the education to really manage that money. Neither does his father, and that makes me wonder if maybe at some point some wiseguy went there and told them "I'll take care of everything, you just sign those papers".

Billions of people have a fulltime job that sees them with little free time, but they still bother about their finances. Messi is a plain normal person doing a job, only that he earns a bit more than anyone else. Apart from the sportive aspect his job is comparable to that of a higher manager, who works fulltime and travels a lot. Many of these people do apparently have enough time to even manage their earning all alone, without an accountant, and for some of them this includes tax frauds.
Messi of course doesn't belong to these, I think he has no idea how the fuck you even do your taxes. Still doesn't mean that he or his father are unaware that some accountant might do their taxes against the law.
How do you know that this accountant did not just tell him "alright, if you want to, then I can do tax frauds. That would mean you pay me a little more extra, and you'd still have much more on your bank account by the end of the year. And if it ever comes out, just blame me.". I think that the story version of "Messi didn't know" is one that would please a lot of his fans, and maybe that is even true, but it's just not exactly the more likely outcome. The likelyhood is also not exactly increasing due to the fact that this would be already the 2nd time this happens.

 

[blaugrana1987]

Wait Messi is involved in this as well? Sorry, but if his father was already involved in shady business before, and he didnt know it, he should have removed him from being his manager. This is becoming embarassing.

 

[Topolino]

Billions of people have a fulltime job that sees them with little free time, but they still bother about their finances. Messi is a plain normal person doing a job, only that he earns a bit more than anyone else. Apart from the sportive aspect his job is comparable to that of a higher manager, who works fulltime and travels a lot. Many of these people do apparently have enough time to even manage their earning all alone, without an accountant, and for some of them this includes tax frauds.
Messi of course doesn't belong to these, I think he has no idea how the fuck you even do your taxes. Still doesn't mean that he or his father are unaware that some accountant might do their taxes against the law.
How do you know that this accountant did not just tell him "alright, if you want to, then I can do tax frauds. That would mean you pay me a little more extra, and you'd still have much more on your bank account by the end of the year. And if it ever comes out, just blame me.". I think that the story version of "Messi didn't know" is one that would please a lot of his fans, and maybe that is even true, it's not exactly the more likely outcome. The likelyhood is also not exactly increasing due to the fact that this would be already the 2nd time this happens.

So all in all, Messi is a bit daft. No matter how it went down.

So, lesson to everyone... pay your god damn taxes and noone cares.

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Wait Messi is involved in this as well? Sorry, but if his father was already involved in shady business before, and he didnt know it, he should have removed him from being his manager. This is becoming embarassing.

There's leo's signature in the papers of an offshore company in panama.
Unless his signature was fabricated leo knew about the whole thing.
Note that so far there are no accusations about tax evading, just the fact that he has a company in panama.
We will soon find out if he did it for illegal reasons.

 

[blaugrana1987]

There's leo's signature in the papers of an offshore company in panama.
Unless his signature was fabricated leo knew about the whole thing.
Note that so far there are no accusations about tax evading, just the fact that he has a company in panama.
We will soon find out if he did it for illegal reasons.

Well given the history of Messi family, taxes and off shore companies it wouldnt surprise me there is more to it. Just embarassing all around...If he knew about this, and still gave his signature after already proven tax evasion he is either dumb as brick or extremely greedy.

 

[6 Ballons for Messi]

Anyway, as I said in my opening post regarding this matter, this whole thing explains how he looked on fire for argentina but couldn't take 2 steps for barca 3 days later.

 

[blaugrana1987]

How do such a rich people have audicity to cheat and break law with taxes when they are worth hundreds of millions of dollars? Its completely beyond me...

This better not be reason for him to be disinterested tomorrow as well. Whole season could go into toilet...