Complaint accusing Lionel Messi of fraud, money laundering dismissed by Spanish court

A Spanish court on Friday dismissed a fraud case filed in 2020 against Barcelona star Lionel Messi. Federico Rettori, an Argentine national living in Spain accused the legendary footballer of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. It must be noted that this was not the first instance of a fraud case against Messi. Earlier, in 2019, Rettori had filed a similar complaint against Messi’s charity. Rettori claimed that funds received by Messi’s foundation were not used for social causes but were utilised towards various private activities or bank accounts that differed from those that were declared by the foundation.

Rettori again filed the complaint in 2020 and added more documents to his claims. However, a Spain’s court has dismissed his plea after two years of investigating  and said that "no criminal act on the part of the people targeted by the complaint could be proven". The court also said that Rettori was never associated with Messi's foundation.

Instead, he headed an association called "El Buen Camino", or "The Right Path", which received 150,000 euros ($177,000) in 2014 and 2015 to fight infant mortality in Sierra Leone, the court said. However, the project was cancelled due to the Ebola epidemic in the country.