Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison, with a court in Barcelona finding him guilty of three counts of tax fraud.
A statement from the Spanish court on Wednesday said it had also sentenced the Argentine soccer player's father Jorge to 21 months in jail for the same three crimes.
The sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court, the statement said.
However, under Spanish law, a prison sentence under two years can be served under probation, meaning Messi and his father are unlikely to go to jail.
The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around €2 million euros (NZ$3.11 million) and his father to pay €1.5 million euros (NZ$2.33 million) for the crimes.
Reuters
