(CNN) — The good news for soccer star Lionel
Messi is that he won't be going to jail for
defrauding the Spanish tax authorities. The bad
news is that he's been fined $2.3 million.
A Barcelona court ruled that between 2000 and
2009, Messi was guilty of tax fraud and that for
each of those three years he should serve a
sentence of seven months.
However, because this was the first time the
Barcelona forward had committed an offence
and his sentence was less than two years, the
29-year-old Messi won't serve jail time as long
as he doesn't break the law again.
Messi's father Jorge Messi was also handed a
21-month jail sentence and a $1.7 million for tax
fraud, though like his son he won't serve time
as he also doesn't have a criminal record.
Barcelona and Messi were not immediately
available for comment when contacted by CNN.



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