BEVERLY HILLS, October 18, (THEWILL) – Spanish prosecutors have accused Real Madrid’s Brazilian left-back, Marcelo, of tax fraud totalling nearly half a million euros.
The tax authorities believe Marcelo hid 490,917 euros ($578,000) earned from his image rights using a network of shell companies outside of Spain.
Marcelo was said to have earned 1,168,764 Euros from his image rights in 2013, which were ceded to a Uruguayan company but should have been declared to the Spanish authorities.
Marcelo is just the latest in a series of star players based in Spain to be accused of tax fraud on income related to image rights in the past few years.
Real Madrid’s all-time leading scorer and Portugal skipper, Cristiano Ronaldo, appeared in court in July over accusations he evaded 14.7 million euros worth of tax between 2011 and 2014.
Barcelona duo of Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano also received 21-month and one-year suspended sentences respectively after being found guilty of tax fraud over their image rights in 2016.
However, Messi, five-time World Player of the Year, had his sentence later replaced by a 252,000 Euro fine.
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