Cristiano Ronaldo accused of tax evasion in Spain

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Real Madrid and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of tax evasion by Madrid’s criminal prosecution system.

Ronaldo has been accused of evading nearly €15 million in tax payments by the Madrid court. A case has been filed against Ronaldo on Tuesday stating that crimes took place between the years 2011 and 2014.

The tax authorities who filed the claim said that Ronaldo had created a shell company called Tollin Associates in the British Virgin Islands and redirected all his payments regarding image rights through that company. He was the sole stakeholder in that company. And he in turn handed over the management of the aforesaid company to another one based out of Ireland.

Read: Messi thinks Ronaldo is great.

The tax authorities have also said that Ronaldo “willingly” and “knowingly” set up his business in such a way in order to avoid taxes.

Ronaldo could face as much as 5 years of jail term if he is indeed found guilty of all the charges. But having said that, it is highly unlikely that he will go to jail. Lionel Messi was involved in a very similar kind of case when the Argentine was found guilty of evading €4.1 million in taxes. The Barcelona man was sentenced to 21 months in prison but he did not wind up in jail eventually. Because as per the Spanish legal system any prison sentence that is under two years can be suspended.

So even if the Real Madrid man is found guilty of all the charges, he will most probably not go to jail. If he receives a sentence of fewer than two years that is.

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Ronaldo’s tax fraud accusation in short:

  1. Accused of evading €14.7 million in taxes.
  2. Created a shell company named Tollin Associates in the British Virgin Islands.
  3. The Portuguese was the only stakeholder of the company.
  4. Channelled all his image rights payments through the shell company.
  5. The management of the shell company was handled by another company based out of Ireland.
  6. If proven guilty he might face 5 years of jail term.

Read: Ronaldo is No 1. in the world.