Javier Mascherano tax fraud: Former Liverpool star charged with defrauding Spanish tax authorities of more than £1m

Barcelona defender charged with two counts of defraufing the Spanish tax authorities of more than €1.5m

Tom Sheen
Tuesday 29 September 2015 03:58 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Javier Mascherano has been charged with two counts of fraud by the Spanish tax authorities for more than €1.5million.

The Barcelona defender, who joined the Catalan club from Liverpool in 2010, is alleged to have sought to conceal earnings from image rights by using companies set up in the US and neighbouring Portugal.

A judge will rule on whether the case should go to trial.

The 31-year-old is accused of defrauding authorities of 587,822.01 (£434,681) in 2011 and 968,907.76 (£716,485.74) in 2012.

According to the public prosecutor's office, Mascherano, who has made no comment on the charges, has paid the money owed plus a further 200,000 (£147,895) of interest.

The total equals 1,756,729.77 (£1,302,803.33).

Barcelona team-mate Lionel Messi, and his father Jorge, were caught up in a similar case, but denied they have done anything wrong.

A judge has also previously accused Neymar of evading taxes.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in