Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Lionel Messi faces tax charges

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has had a lawsuit filed against him for avoiding tax payments.

The 25-year-old striker, along with his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, are both accused of three offenses against the public purse for allegedly defrauding more than €4million in income tax returns in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The complaint, signed by prosecutor Raquel Amado - a state prosecutor for the northeastern region of Catalonia, was submitted for trial at the courthouse in Gava, where the €11million a-year Argentine lives.

A judge at the courthouse must accept the prosecutor's lawsuit before charges can be brought against Messi and his father.

Barcelona declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Lionel Messi faces tax charges

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has had a lawsuit filed against him for avoiding tax payments.

The 25-year-old striker, along with his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, are both accused of three offenses against the public purse for allegedly defrauding more than €4million in income tax returns in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The complaint, signed by prosecutor Raquel Amado - a state prosecutor for the northeastern region of Catalonia, was submitted for trial at the courthouse in Gava, where the €11million a-year Argentine lives.

A judge at the courthouse must accept the prosecutor's lawsuit before charges can be brought against Messi and his father.

Barcelona declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.

Lionel Messi faces tax charges

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has had a lawsuit filed against him for avoiding tax payments.

The 25-year-old striker, along with his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, are both accused of three offenses against the public purse for allegedly defrauding more than €4million in income tax returns in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The complaint, signed by prosecutor Raquel Amado - a state prosecutor for the northeastern region of Catalonia, was submitted for trial at the courthouse in Gava, where the €11million a-year Argentine lives.

A judge at the courthouse must accept the prosecutor's lawsuit before charges can be brought against Messi and his father.

Barcelona declined to comment on the lawsuit.

History CNET alleging the NSA can listen to phone calls from the United States without faces skepticism

A blockbuster posted Saturday by CNET article alleges that the national security agency has the power to listen to phone calls of Americans without a warrant.

That bold statement illuminated social media, but also drew skepticism, with many arguing that it seemed to be based on a misunderstanding.

The basis of the CNET article that focused on an exchange between Representative Jerrold Nadler (DN.And) and FBI Director Robert Mueller at a hearing on Thursday. (See above). During the interrogation, Nadler said that in a separate report, behind closed doors, he had said that NSA analysts can listen to the content of a telephone call at the discretion of the analyst.

Given the apparent illegality of listen to phone calls of Americans without warrants, some questioned whether Nadler understood the report cited. From the Saturday night, several publications were not able to reach the Congressman for comment.

Kevin Drum completo Mother Jones writes that "information of that phone" can mean one of many things, and that Nadler may have been "confused the capacity of an analyst to obtain information for a phone number of the Subscriber with the ability to listen to the call of its own." Julian Sanchez of regulations wrote Nadler can refers to a set of circumstances that is narrower than the CNET article involved.

Also in HuffPost:

Messi's polished image faces first scandal

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

The sporting world was shocked on Wednesday by the news that four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi is being pursued by the Spanish tax authorities for an alleged fraud worth over four million euros ($5 million).

Messi is rightfully the world's most lauded and admired footballer as, on the pitch, he has achieved feats barely plausible in the modern game, such as his 91-goal haul in the calendar year of 2012 that overhauled German Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old European record.

However, in contrast to many of his contemporaries, it is his camera-shy, humble attitude away from the pitch that has allowed many to warm to him.

And that image is precisely why Wednesday's news came as such a surprise.

Messi, who is accused along with his father Jorge Horacio, strongly denied the allegations via his Facebook page, saying that he had not even been informed by the tax authorities of the complaint.

"We have just known through the media about the claim filed by the Spanish tax authorities. We are surprised about those news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said.

Ironically, given his squeaky clean image, it appears to be how he has handled money earned from image rights that the authorities are challenging.

They claim that the player and his father used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying tax on image rights from a number of the player's huge endorsement deals.

The pair are accused of defrauding the state of taxes related to that income in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, the year the Argentine won the first of his four Ballons d'Or.

Since that time Messi's exceptional performances on the field have seen his value as a marketable commodity soar.

He scored in both the Champions League finals of 2009 and 2011 as Barca overcame Manchester United to claim their third and fourth European crowns respectively.

Meanwhile, his individual goalscoring feats have become legendary. His 91 goals in 2012 helped him smash Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo's previous record of 40 goals in a La Liga season, as Messi registered 50 in the league and equalled the record number of goals in a single Champions League campaign with 14.

Those feats allied to the winning of his fourth Ballon d'Or in January saw him move up one place in this year's Forbes list of highest-paid athletes to 10th with an annual income of $21 million from endorsements alone.

Off the field, things appeared to be going very smoothly for Messi too as his long-term girlfriend Antonella Roccuzzo gave birth to their first child, Thiago, in early November.

And the 25-year-old's relatable image was evidenced once more when he carried his seven-month old son around the Camp Nou field as Barca celebrated winning their fourth Spanish title in five years last month.

However, this latest news rounds off a frustrating few weeks for the world's best player as his brilliance on the field has also been tempered by injury.

A hamstring problem forced him to watch on from the sidelines as Bayern Munich hammered Barca 3-0 in the second-league of their Champions League semi-final to seal a record 7-0 aggregate defeat for the Catalans.

And a recurrence of the injury against Atletico Madrid early in May forced him to miss Barca's last four league games of the campaign.

He returned just in time to take part in Argentina's two World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Ecuador in the past week, but again his lack of fitness reduced his role to merely that of a substitute for the last half-hour of both matches as La Albiceleste could only manage two draws.

As a result, they are still a few points short of mathematically sealing their place at next year's World Cup in Brazil.

And on the very day on which he was due to start his holidays after an exhausting 10-month long season, the Argentine star now must face up to the first serious scandal to affect his career.