Whoever the tax evasion coach is at Barcelona—well, he or she is doing a fine job. Today, former Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano was sentenced to one year in prison for incurring $1.5 million in tax fraud, according to Sport. But—given the fact that he's super rich and has already paid off the taxes, plus roughly $215,000 in interest—it seems the Argentine national won't be seeing the inside of a cell any time soon.Mascherano joined the ranks of high profile tax-evading Barca teammates Messi and Neymar when he was caught trying to hide earnings from his image rights in 2011 and 2012 through the use of shell companies he owned abroad. Mascherano released a statement saying,"After agreeing to come to Barcelona, I hired a prestigious Spanish tax firm, with renowned professionals and an excellent reputation. In agreement with my situation, they recommended certain structures to me, all within the legal framework, always notifying me that the procedures were common, transparent and in accordance with the law."After legal proceedings were opened against him, Mascherano changed firms and promptly paid the taxes as 'corrections.' He added in his statement, "I'm a professional sportsman, I don't have huge knowledge of tax or legal matters. As such, I lean on the people who handle these technical and, for me, complex terms."The "I'm just a humble millionaire sportsman" approach seemed to work this time in Spain, a country renowned for not following up on jail sentences of two years or fewer. Now if only Mascherano—or whoever is in charge of tax evasion at Barcelona—could coach Messi and Neymar on how to get out of their respective financial pickles.
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