Why are so many Barcelona players accused of evading taxes?



Barcelona players past and present continue to make headlines for tax evasion, with Adriano Correia the latest to have his name brought into the mix, having returned 641,000 euros to Spanish tax authorities from 2011/12 when he was still at the Catalan club. The player insists that the amount was declared in Madeira and pertained to his image rights as a player. Nonetheless Adriano is far from the only case, with Neymar, Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano and Dani Alves all also having been implicated in their respective cases, signalling perhaps deeper issues amongst those at the club.
Neymar has been sentenced to a 5.5 million euro fine because his transfer was said to hide 9.3 million euros from Spanish tax authorities, with the winger saying that sum was due to variables and services and not part of his actual taxable wage. Messi, for his part, is charged alongside his father for avoiding 4.1 million in taxes between 2007 and 2009. Players rights are again a tricky point, as the Spanish authorities accuse the player of not declaring 10m euros. Alves owed 1.3 million euros for failing to pay, whereas Javier Mascherano paid a 21,000 euro fine to avoid prison time for 1.5m fraud.Barcelona court heard former Barcelona defender Adriano deny evading tax in a testimony given on Tuesday.
Accused of defrauding the Spanish taxpayer of 646,085 euros, the current Besiktas player insisted that he paid the correct amount on image rights income received in 2011 and 2012. He admitted to using a Madeira-based company to manage that income, but insisted that he was open about being the holder of the company and that he never intended to use it to conceal the flow of money. The lawyers representing the Brazilian - who spoke for close to one hour - were David Aineto and Diego Artacho, the same lawyers who recently represented Javier Mascherano in a similar case. In that instance, the Argentine player was advised to accept a one-year jail term - that he wouldn't have to serve - and to pay back 1.5m euros to the Spanish taxman.

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