Ten days after the Copa America, Lionel Messi was denounced for fraud and money laundering through his Foundation.

Lionel Messi was denounced in the national court, together with his father Jorge and his brother Rodrigo, for alleged crimes of fraud and money laundering through his foundation.

This is a complaint to which Europa Press had access after information published by the ABC newspaper and still waiting to be admitted or not treated by a national court chamber. The same was done by former Federico Rettori Foundation employee, who badured that La Pulga and its environs would have benefited from the Foundation to receive personal payments that were not intended for social purposes and thus get rid of Treasury taxes.

"The funds that originally had to be intended for social actions were diverted to another type of private activities or accounts other than those declared by said foundation", accused Rettori, a worker of the Foundation between 2012 and 2015.

The NGO employee accused the Messi of alleged crimes against the Treasury, accounting crimes, fraud and money laundering according to several facts. The plaintiff badured that the Foundation "has never registered in the Catalan Register of Foundations", which would imply that all these years "it has operated without any kind of control or responsibility in any official body".

For his part, he also accused the footballer and the Barcelona club, in which he played his entire career, would have used the Leo Messi Foundation to not have to pay taxes. "All these years, the Leo Messi Foundation has received donations from the FC Barcelona." In order to receive donations, the Messi Foundation should have been registered in the register, "said the complainant.

"He used tax advantages that did not correspond to him legally, which allowed FC Barcelona and the Foundation to save several millions of euros of taxes. The club has earned 35% tax deductions from the corporate tax and Messi has avoided paying 45% tax. the physical income of the people since civil organizations with a charitable purpose do not pay taxes on the gifts they receive, "he explained.

Rettori bombarded the Foundation with several movements and incomes without any justification or badociated social actions, and proved this in the complaint. "The total expenses over these 5 years are extremely high for a foundation with only one employee and no attention to the public, from which is deducted his fictional activity and which serves as a screen to conceal people's incomes denounced, "he said.

It must be remembered that in 2016, the Audiencia de Barcelona sentenced Lionel Messi to one year and nine months in prison for three cash fraud crimes between 2007 and 2009. Because it is a less than two years and Criminal Record, it was agreed to substitute this fine with a fine of 252,000 euros, in addition to the payment of the money they had stopped paying to the Treasury during this period. His father suffered the same fate.