Cristiano Ronaldo to be sent to prison?

Current Juventus superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo, could be sent to prison over an alleged tax fraud. The soccer football star, will appear before a court in Madrid in January, for hearing of a guilty verdict delivered against him over a €14.7million tax fraud.

Cristiano was charged in 2017 by Spanish prosecutors over the money he owed from image rights. This happened after a shell company in the British Virgin Islands was used to hide parts of Ronaldo’s income between 2011 and 2014.

“The accused made use of a corporate structure created in 2010 to hide from the tax authority income generated in Spain through image rights,” the prosecutors had stated when filing charges against Ronaldo.

Ronaldo will now be summoned to court to hear the final verdict which will be a two year prison sentence. However, Spanish law can pardon jail sentences of two years and under for first-time offenders, given that the accused did not commit any further crimes in Spain during that period.

Once fines and interests are factored in, Cristiano Ronaldo might have to pay around €18.9million.

Earlier, Lionel Messi was also charged with a similar suspended jail sentence in May 2017 for offenses relating to hidden income and tax evasion. The Argentina captain did not serve a custodial sentence.