After Lionel Messi, Fabio Cannavaro. Within a few weeks, two of the most recent Ballon d'Ors end up in the crosshairs of the Spanish and Italian tax authorities. La Pulga, as is well known, is on trial for tax fraud after an investigating judge from Gavà rejected the appeal of the Argentine star from Barcelona against his indictment on 3 October (despite the Prosecutor's Office expressing his acquittal). The disputed fraud is 4,1 million euros, consumed in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.
On the other hand, the alleged irregularity committed by the captain of the world champion national team in 2006 is lighter: Fabio Cannavaro he is accused of having created a fictitious company with his wife and brother-in-law, subtracting 900 thousand euros from the Italian tax authorities. The fraud was discovered in 2011 by the Revenue Agency and the bogus company is called FD Service.
The last two cases, striking for the names at stake, are however not the only ones in the history of football, often dealing with the "black". It is in fact known to all that to get into trouble he was even one of the greatest ever, Diego Armando Maradona, who in his Neapolitan experience allegedly subtracted, also thanks to the interest accrued over the years, the beauty of almost 40 million euros. Just last August 1, the Pibe de Oro was rejected by the Court of Naples yet another appeal against the sentence that condemns him for tax evasion in Italy. The Tax Commission of the Campania court thus accepted the arguments of Equitalia and the Revenue Agency, declaring Maradona's procedural initiative aimed at obtaining the cancellation of his debt to the State inadmissible.
It also caused a stir when several Milan players of the "Invincibles" ended up in the sights of the tax authorities. In particular, the three Dutch champions, Van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit, who gave the Rossoneri fans a cycle of unrepeatable victories between the 80s and 90s, were accused of having received from Milan, through complicated transfers to foreign accounts, about 67 billion lire (over 34 million euros), of undeclared income. The three then settled, while in August 2005, even if for other reasons, the captain of that team was sentenced to five months' imprisonment. Franco Baresi: the penalty was later converted into a fine of 5.900 euros, as part of a scam involving the sale of paintings.
Instead, another historic captain of Milan and the national team was acquitted: Paolo Maldini he was also found not guilty in the second degree this year on charges of corruption and abusive access to the computer system. He was accused of having kept an official of the Revenue Agency "on the payroll" to avoid tax inspections and had already obtained an acquittal in 2013.
However, these questionable events do not only concern the world of football. The duel of, for example, is also very famous Valentino Rossi with the tax authorities, with disputes for almost 44 million euros and the self-defense video message recorded in 2007 in London by the champion from the Marches (immediately broadcast by Tg 1 and Tg5). All in vain: Rossi was unseated by Equitalia a few months later. And in February 2008 he settled for almost 35 million euros.
Even the Tuscan cyclist Mario Cipollini, world champion in 2002, was himself in trouble: on 17 April 2008 he was sentenced to 22 months' imprisonment (covered by the pardon) for tax evasion. But in June 2010 he was acquitted by the Florence court of appeal. Another "school" case, remaining among the big names, was that of the skier Alberto Tomba, later acquitted of the charge of tax fraud for which the Public Prosecutor's Office had asked for 10 months' imprisonment. Instead, his father Franco was sentenced to one year and four months with suspended sentence.
