Barcelona Found Guilty of €9m Tax Fraud Over Neymar Deal

Spanish revenue authorities have reportedly accused Barcelona of fraud worth €9m in unpaid taxes regarding the summer deal that saw Neymar move from Santos to Barcelona last summer.

Although the Catalans initially said they paid €57.1m for his services they finally admitted the real price of the deal was €87m – a revelation that forced former club president Sandro Rosell to resign.

And after being accused by a court and the Spanish public prosecutors of possible misappropriation of funds the club decided to paid an extra €13.5m to the revenue authority in order to avoid further sanctions.

However, according to Spanish radio station Cadena Ser the authorities maintain Barcelona have still committed a crime, having only paid the outstanding fees after being accused.

Spain's public prosecutor claimed earlier in February that Barcelona may have defrauded the tax office out of €9,100,800 as part of the €10m they paid in advance to secure Neymar's signature in 2011, two years before moving to the Nou Camp.

Furthermore, according to the reports, Barcelona eventually paid Santos only €17m, while the other €40m was paid to a company owned by Neymar and his father – with doubts about wheter that €40m were a hidden payment to increase the player's salary in order to avoid tax obligations.

In an added complication, former Santos chief Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro recently fuelled the scandal surrounding Neymar's deal, claiming that the €87m was also used to pay for an orgy in a London hotel for his father.

"The fee included 'coffee money'– a tip – for Neymar's father. It also paid for an orgy in London. I don't know why Neymar Sr should have made anything in the deal," said former Santos chief Luis Alvaro de Oliveira Ribeiro.