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Barcelona charged with tax fraud over transfer of Neymar

NeymarBarcelona2-Ajax (Getty)

By FRANCO PANIZO

Barcelona has some explaining to do, and maybe even some paying.

A Spanish court has charged the Spanish heavyweights with tax fraud of $12.5 million over the transfer of Brazilian star Neymar in the summer of 2012. Barcelona has denied the charges, but Sandro Rosell recently left his post as the club’s president over the allegations.

Rosell is being investigated by Spanish judge Pablo Ruz, who has also asked Neymar’s father to testify. Neymar’s father ran a firm that allegedly received $55 million of the transfer fee for the Brazilian international.

The news of Barcelona being charged comes a day after a public prosecutor charged Barcelona with falsifying simulated contracts and defrauding the Spanish Treasury.

What do you make of this news?Do you think more of this kind of stuff happens around the world? Starting to appreciate MLS’s salary cap?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. The Neymar transfer has always felt shady. The revelation that his dad was paid 3x the amount Santos was paid to secure his rights is downright scandalous. I’m sure there’s a lot of this type of thing with Brazilian and Argentine players going to Europe. The money involved in Neymar’s transfer is so much greater. I wonder if other clubs that were also pursuing Neymar had to line Neymar Sr.’s pockets to stay in the running.

    Reply
    • More like Barca lined Neymar Sr’s pockets more heavily than other clubs. Real (or another club) might have come up with an offer but wouldn’t pay $40 million to Neymar Sr, unlike Barca.

      How Santos can sell Neymar and get 17 million euros is laughable. I’m not sure why Captain Obvious didnt slap a big poster of Gareth Bale on the table with a 100 figure on it and mention that Neymar is worth a little more than that.

      This is so shady.

      Reply
  2. Two things here–Spanish prosecutors are wildly anti-Barcelona and domestic politics are less than stellar in regards to taxes on non-domestic expenditures.

    Second–this nonsense with multiple people owning a player is ridiculous. This is what you get when you buy players like Neymar from a third world country.

    Reply
    • That true, but people have to understand the backdrop of what’s happening politically with Barcelona. They want to become their own country and and Spain has basically said their going to put them through hell and high water before they let them do so.

      Scotlish and Catalonian independence in 2014

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    • Barca’s going to have to pay a big fine, and that will be that.

      Barca basically paid Neymar’s dad $40 million to buy his son.

      Reply
  3. Wonder what the UEFA punishment for this is supposed to be if they are found guilty. I imagine UEFA would change it to minimize the impact to Barca of course since that is how they work though.

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  4. Wow. Thats why i rather be a Real fan, I’ve heard stories and read articles about how the pride of being Catalan just gets in people’s way and they just become prejudice towards anyone who is not them. I mean they never had a sponsor before they always donated their shirt space to UNICEF, I knew something was up as soon as they became affiliated with Qatar foundation and now they are sponsored by Qatar airlines. But the real crook here is Neymars dad, he should go to jail.

    Reply
    • Real is hardly better, aren’t they something like $750 million in debt? Also it is rumored they have been getting illegal state aid for ages.

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      • absolutely, i have huge issues with how both of the teams have been able to operate. taking huge loans to pay wages but still buying massively expensive players, the joke that is TV rights, etc.

      • + 1

        As Johny Drama used to say, “There’s always an underbelly, bro.” This is the true ugly underbelly of the state of Big League football. It’s all a game played on a fragile foundation. Yes they get the big stars and big money but when the underbelly of the sustem is exposed we get to see a) how they are pulling this off and b) the real threat to the game as they play and run it.

      • I think your LOL applied more to your response than the statement post your were refuting.

        Do they have obscure rules? Yes. But I’ll take that level of obscurity than outright fraud. But to each their own, I suppose. By the way obscurity does not equal the lack of truth.

      • Obscurity does not equal lack of truth? LOL
        Thar’s exactly what it means.!
        What fraud? Nothing has been proven yet and how do we know MLS doesn’t do the same kind of deals If they keep their operations secret?

      • Just because something is obscure to one who is not “up to speed” or choses not to discover information for themself does not mean the lack of truth. So no, it is not “exactly what that means”.

        As for your other point – I’m gonna let that one go because it’s so rediculous that it does not warrant further disussion.

        Like I said, to each their own.

      • Actually if I am not mistaken all Bundesliga clubs are required to operate in the black and they do. All clubs majority stakes are held by the fans, which prohibits large investors coming and taking over and then spending stupid amounts of money on transfers. I believe they passed laws about this some years ago which has helped their domestic youth development.

  5. Does anyone think for a minute theyll be kicked out of Europe for this. About a decade ago I remember the strongest liverpool team being banned from Europe for a few years. That was Dalglish Keegan liverpool. That ran the EPL table a few times, They would have atleast made the semifinals and without much imagination win another 2 or 3 cups.

    Lets see if UEFA mealy mouths this one.

    Reply
      • Yeah it happened, and it was a ban that applied to ALL English teams and had more to do with people DYING than bad accounting. It was for the Heysel Stadium disaster.

        @Sly – I’m no Barca fan, and from your post I am guessing you are not one either, but that ban was for a much, much bigger deal that is still a very bitter and painful issue to this day. I am not saying that what Barca is alleged to have done is right but lumping this in with the Heysel Stadium disaster was just porr form.

      • Completely agree.

        My point was the precedent has been set.

        Banned for years no way, even in my dreams Platini and Blatter step in and correct me, but with all of this going on and virtually every team from 5th place in la liga on down literally (ok not literally) 3 minutes from bankruptcy, a country on their 3rd bailout, 4th different goverment due to outside imposed austerity, 30% unemployment (for people between 18 – 25). Youd think drastic measures would be called for.

        One season ban. Plus vacating all trophies won during this season seems reasonable.

        Plus just for the fans of idk Bilbao or Sociedad or Valencia to have European nights and the tv revenue it brings. Alot worse things could happen.

      • Wow. did original poster just compare killing 39 Juventus fans to a little tax fraud? Please tell me he is just a kid and had no idea what he is talking about.

      • Oh, and by the way, the ban on English hurt EVERTON, not Liverpool. Everton won the league that season and couldn’t compete in the European championship, a fact some Liverpool fans laughed about.

      • I was indeed unaware that it was Haysel. I wasn’t comparing them. See previous post responding to Kosh.

        I will spell it out slowly and clearly. Second sentence was ” My point was the precedent was set.”

        Since a European ban has happened previously. And this fraud has has led to multiple games with an ineligible player and inadequate reporting to the local federation, UEFA, and a finally challenged govt.

        Perhaps a European ban for a season and thusly a more equitable distribution of champions league moneys would be fair.

        Again please see previous post.

    • Barca? Kicked out of the CL?

      hahahahahahahahahahaha.
      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA.

      Hahahahahah Barca kicked out Europe, yeah good luck with that hahahahahahhaha.

      Sorry, couldn’t help it.

      Reply
  6. This can’t be right, Barcelona is the team that does things the right way, unlike the evil Madrids and Manchesters of the world.

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    • I am shocked, SHOCKED that someone taking millions of dollars a year from the Qatari’s (shirt sponsorship) would be doing crooked things with that money in the world of soccer!

      But in all seriousness, this kind of blows away that squeeky clean image Barca has had through the last decade. Have to wonder what’s going on with the books at Barca because if you’re worried about hiding how much you paid in one move you’re probably hiding so much more as it’s not like any fans were really going to be mad about it.

      Reply

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