--- title: Lionel Messi to Appeal 21-Month Jail Sentence for Tax Fraud description: Soccer superstar Lionel Messi and his father will appeal the 21-month prison sentence imposed on them by a Spanish court. canonical: https://time.com/4396137/lionel-messi-prison-tax-fraud-father-appeal/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-07T09:01:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:05:54.603Z article:section: Sports og:title: Lionel Messi to Appeal 21-Month Sentence for Tax Fraud og:description: Messi's attorneys said "there is a good chance the appeal will succeed" og:url: https://time.com/4396137/lionel-messi-prison-tax-fraud-father-appeal/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte899669b5b4ba187/69889af3ab6d774e826aa59d/rtx2k2cp.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Barcelona's Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi sits in court with his father Jorge Horacio Messi during their trial for tax fraud in Barcelona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lionel Messi to Appeal 21-Month Sentence for Tax Fraud twitter:description: Messi's attorneys said "there is a good chance the appeal will succeed" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte899669b5b4ba187/69889af3ab6d774e826aa59d/rtx2k2cp.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lionel Messi Will Appeal His 21-Month Prison Sentence for Tax Fraud > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jul 7, 2016 9:01 AM UTC  Barcelona's Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi (L) sits in court with his father Jorge Horacio Messi during their trial for tax fraud in Barcelona, Spain, June 2, 2016. Barcelona's Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi (L) sits in court with his father Jorge Horacio Messi during their trial for tax fraud in Barcelona, Spain, June 2, 2016.Alberto Estevez—Pool/Reuters by [Rishi Iyengar](https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jul 7, 2016 9:01 AM UTC Soccer superstar Lionel Messi and his father will [appeal](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36730126) the 21-month prison sentence imposed on them by a Spanish court, after they were convicted of tax fraud to the tune of millions of dollars. Messi’s attorneys said in a statement that “there is a good chance the appeal will succeed” due to his otherwise clean record, the BBC reports. The 29-year-old Argentinian, who plays for Spanish club FC Barcelona, said earlier that he [knew nothing about his finances](http://time.com/4394457/lionel-messi-jailed-tax-fraud/) and only signed documents provided by his father without looking through them. Aside from the jail term, both men were fined more than $1.5 million each. They will likely [avoid prison ](http://time.com/4394874/lionel-messi-tax-fraud-prison/)regardless, however, as Spain’s laws allow for the suspension (under probation) of sentences less than two years long for first-time offenders like Messi. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36730126)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4396137/lionel-messi-prison-tax-fraud-father-appeal/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4396137/lionel-messi-prison-tax-fraud-father-appeal/"},"headline":"Lionel Messi Will Appeal His 21-Month Prison Sentence for Tax Fraud","datePublished":"2016-07-07T09:01:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:05:54.603Z","description":"Messi's attorneys said \"there is a good chance the appeal will succeed\"","url":"https://time.com/4396137/lionel-messi-prison-tax-fraud-father-appeal/","keywords":["Soccer","father","Spain","Prison","court","Argentina","Appeal","Barcelona","Lionel Messi"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte899669b5b4ba187/69889af3ab6d774e826aa59d/rtx2k2cp.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte899669b5b4ba187/69889af3ab6d774e826aa59d/rtx2k2cp.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Barcelona's Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi sits in court with his father Jorge Horacio Messi during their trial for tax fraud in Barcelona","caption":"Barcelona's Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi sits in court with his father Jorge Horacio Messi during their trial for tax fraud in Barcelona","creditText":"Alberto Estevez—Pool/Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/soccer/","name":"Soccer"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4396137/lionel-messi-prison-tax-fraud-father-appeal/","name":"Lionel Messi Will Appeal His 21-Month Prison Sentence for Tax Fraud"}}]}] ```