Spain’s Supreme Court confirmed on Wednesday that Lionel Messi and his father Jorge Messi received prison sentences of 21 and 15 months respectively in relation to a tax fraud case.

The magistrates unveiled their decision on May 24 after Barcelona’s star and his father appealed against last year’s initial sentence. The two convicts – Lionel and Jorge Messi – have demanded the annulment of the 21-month jail term pronounced in July 2016, while the prosecution has demanded the Supreme Court to uphold it.

Both men were convicted of three counts of fraud, for using tax havens in Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009, and were also given heavy fines.

They were found guilty of resorting to fictitious companies to evade Spanish taxes on income from companies using Lionel Messi’s image rights, writes

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