A Spanish state prosecutor has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of defrauding the country's tax office of millions of euros. The Portuguese star stands accused of using a shell company in the Caribbean to hide income.
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Madrid's regional state prosecutor released a statement on Tuesday in which it accused Cristiano Ronaldo of four counts of fraud worth a total of 14.7 million euros ($16.5 million) in unpaid taxes on income earned between 2011 and 2014.
"The accused took advantage of a company structure created in 2010 to hide from the tax authorities income generated in Spain from his image rights, which is a "voluntary" and "conscious" breach of his fiscal obligations in Spain," the statement said. It continued to say Ronaldo, 32, had used a shell company based in the Virgin Islands to "create a screen in order to hide his total income from Spain's tax office."
The prosecutor also accused Ronaldo of having declared that he had earned just 11.5 million euros between 2011 and 2014 in a tax return filed in 2014, while his actual income during this period was almost 43 million euros. It added that Ronaldo falsely claimed the income as coming from real estate, which "greatly" reduced his tax rate.
Additionally, the prosecutor said Ronaldo "intentionally" failed to declare income of 28.4 million euros linked to the sale of his image rights from 2015-2020 to a Spanish company.
The Top 10 'cash cows' in sport
US magazine "Forbes" has released its updated list of the world's best paid athletes. Recent Champions League winner Cristiano Ronaldo remains the best paid sportsperson on the planet.
Image: Reuters/R. Sprich
Cristiano Ronaldo - €83 million
Cristiano Ronaldo, four-time world footballer of the year, has amassed around 83 million euros in the past twelve months. This corresponds to an hourly wage of around 9500.00 euros. 52 million euros come from his salary and prize money, while sponsors contributed about 31 million. His greatest moment came in 2016: he became European champion with the Portuguese national team.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
LeBron James - €77 million
The NBA's most valuable player, "King James" earned some 77 million euros last year. His sponsorship earnings (49 million euros) is much higher than his salary and prize money, which amounted to 28 million. The sportswear manufacturer Nike agreed a lifelong advertising contract with him in 2015 - for the first time in the company's history.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/E. Amendola
Lionel Messi - €71 million
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi raked in over 71 million euros, but the five-time world footballer of the year is yet to make his tax return for the year 2016. Only Messi himself knows how much he really deserved, and his tax fraud scandal in 2016 has raised the question of how much of his fortune is legitimate.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Q.Garcia
Roger Federer - €57 million
The Swiss has won a record 18 Grand Slam tournaments and, through his foundation, which he founded in 2003, supports projects for children in South Africa, the home country of his mother. In 2016, the tennis legend earned about 57 million euros, of which only a small proportion comes from his salary and prize money (5.33 million euros).
Image: Reuters/I. Kato
Kevin Durant - €54 million
The two-metre-tall Golden State Warriors player is known among other things for his accurate shooting. After starting his career, he signed a $60 million contract with Nike. According to Forbes, the NBA star accrued about 54 million euros last year.
Image: Reuters/J. Young
Andrew Luck - €44 million
The American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts who replaced the legendary Peyton Manning signed the most expensive contract in NFL history in June 2016. For the next six years, he will collect a total of 124 million euros. In the year 2016 alone, Luck took home 44 million euros.
Image: Imago/Zumapress
Rory McIlroy - €44 million
Rory McIlroy is the best paid golfer in the world. The Northern Irishman raked in 44 million euros in 2016, with the majority of that coming from his huge sponsorship deal with Nike, worth 30 million euros a year. As the current number two golfer in the world, McIlroy managed to earn five million euros more than the number one, Dustin Johnson, last year.
Image: Getty Images/W.Little
Stephen Curry - €42 million
With his nickname "Baby-faced assassin", Stephen Curry is well-known for his long-range shots in the NBA. Curry earned 42 million euros in the last 12 months, according to Forbes, with 31 million coming from sponsorship. Such earning levels are common for the top stars in the NBA.
Image: Getty Images/E. Shaw
James Harden - €42 million
James Harden of the Houston Rockets is known for his eye-catching beard, so his nickname "The Beard" is an appropriate one. He achieved 24 million euros in salary and prize money in the past year, while making 18 million euros through various sponsorship deals. Harden is another one of the NBA’s exceptional earners.
Image: Imago/China Foto Press
Lewis Hamilton - €41 million
Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton is the only ‘non-ball’ sportsman to make it into the top 10. The three-time world champion enjoyed a total income of around 41 million euros in 2016. Unlike many others in this list, only a small part (7 million euros) comes from sponsorship, with the remaining 34 million euros through his salary with Mercedes and F1 prize money.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Isakovic
And the top woman?
Serena Williams can only be found at number 51 on the list. The American is considered the most successful player of the Open Era and in 2016 she took home 24 million euros. More than two-thirds of her income (17 million euros) came from her sponsorship deals, the most notable of which is with Nike.
Image: imago/Paul Zimmer
And the top German?
Sebastian Vettel has managed to become world champion four times in a row. However, his annual income of 34 million euros is only enough for 14th place in the Forbes list. The Ferrari driver received "only" 444,000 euros from sponsors in 2016.
Image: Reuters/M. Rossi
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Ronaldo,who is set to take part in the coming Confederations Cup in Russia as part of the Portuguese team, was recently named the world's highest-paid athlete by "Forbes" magazine. German news magazine "Spiegel" reported last December that he, along with his former coach, Jose Mourinho, benefited from a special arrangement with Spanish tax authorities.
This is far from the first case of alleged tax evasion involving football stars in Spain. In one high-profile case Barcelona's Lionel Messi was handed a 21-month jail sentence and a 2.1-million euro fine after being convicted on tax-fraud charges last year. The prison term is expected to be suspended as is common in Spain for first offenses for non-violent crimes carrying a sentence of less than two years.
