Messi to Pay $800 For Each Day He Should be In Jail for Tax Fraud

Lionel Messi has been staring down legal repercussions for tax fraud for some time now. In July of last year, he was sentenced to 21 months in Spanish prison for dodging €4.1 million in taxes pertaining to endorsement deals (not Barça salary), and the sentence has only been dragged out since then.

Now, it appears things are finally reaching a close as Messi has offered €794 ($889 US) per day of his sentence, or a total of €500,000 ($559,787) for the 21-month jail sentence, according to the Associated Press. And the prosecution seems to be pleased with that bargain.

The additional fine appears to be a bit of a good faith effort from Messi to resolve the case quickly. Prison sentences for first-time offenders that are less than 24 months are legally can be thrown out by a judge anyway—Messi was just waiting for what seemed like the inevitable ruling. Messi's father, who was also entangled in the tax fraud case, could see his 15-month sentence exchanged for a fine of €360,000, according to the AP. To date, Messi and his father have been ordered to pay €3.5 million in fines, and the recent additional €860,000 seems to take them well past the total of the €4.1 million tax fraud.

So why has this case been drawn out for so long? And why does it seem poised to end now? In an interview with RAC1, Barcelona's vice president Carles Vilarrubi shared a theory. And you'd be crazy to think that it didn't have to do with the recent accusations of tax fraud against a certain Cristiano Ronaldo.

Spain's legal system may be entirely mucked up, but at least their tabloids seem like they're getting well-oiled—with this kind of fodder.