Lionel Messi Under Investigation Over Alleged Money Laundering for Colombian Cartel in Spain

By Jorge Calvillo (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Dec 24, 2013 08:40 AM EST

Tags lionel messi, money laundering, Drug Trafficking, Barcelona FC, Spain

Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi is accused by Spanish authorities of allegedly laundering money for a Colombian cartel.

Spanish newspaper El País reported that the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard (OCU) is currently investigating events in 2012 where the footballer may have contributed economically to organized crime.

The footballer and some of his colleagues like Pinto and Alvarez from Barcelona FC were called to testify on the for-charity matches they played in Mexico, Peru, Miami and Colombia.

The source points out that the Lionel Messi Foundation, led by "La Pulga", signed a contract with "Total Conciertos", run by businessman Andrés Barco, who the OCU says has direct links to drug cartels in Colombia.

The match played by the soccer stars in Bogotá, Colombia made more profits that any other in the entire history of the country, according to the newspaper, which raised the suspicions of the Civil Guard, pointing out it might have been money laundering.

The Civil Guard explained the method --known as "Fila Cero"-- which might have been used in the matches Messi played. This consists in people not going to the match, but buying tickets at a high price to help charities.

In the list of associations that were supposed to benefit from the matches are the Benposta Interval Foundation which reported that it did not receive donations after the match in Colombia.

The foundation was supposed to receive almost 32 million Euro, and the Spanish newspaper said that at the end of the match, Messi and his teammates took a picture with the check destined for Benposta Interval.

This is the second case in which Spain's Civil Guard suspects someone of money laundering, since they also accused Mexican singer Vicente Fernández of contributing to drug trafficking during his concerts in Spain in 2012.