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Barcelona star Lionel Messi and his father can avoid prison for tax fraud by paying an extra fine, a Spanish court has said.
- Messi will pay a total of $3.378 million and avoid 21-month prison term
- Last year Messi and his father found guilty of defrauding tax authorities of $6.15 million
- Messi has won five Ballon d'Or awards for world's best male footballer
Instead of Messi serving his 21-month sentence, the Argentina forward will be fined an extra $378,000.
The Barcelona-based court also ruled that Messi's father, Jorge Horacio Messi, will be fined an extra $270,000 instead of serving his 15-month sentence.
The ruling was widely expected in Spain, where prison sentences under 24 months for first-time offenders can be waived by a judge.
Last year, a court found Messi and his father each guilty of three counts of defrauding tax authorities of $6.15 million from 2007-09.
The unpaid taxes were from money made through endorsement deals, not Messi's salary paid by Barcelona.
In that ruling Messi was also fined $3 million and his father $2.25 million.
Both were originally sentenced to 21 months, but his father's sentence was later reduced to 15 months.
AP
Topics: soccer, fraud-and-corporate-crime, human-interest, argentina, spain, european-union