Madrid, Jun 13 (EFE).- A Spanish prosecutor's office on Tuesday filed a complaint against Portuguese soccer mega-star Cristiano Ronaldo for alleged tax fraud. <br /><br />In the indictment, Madrid's regional prosecutor accused the famous Real Madrid forward of evading some 14.7 million euros ($16.5 million) in taxes between 2011-14. <br /><br />It added that Ronaldo had done so "in a conscious and voluntary manner." <br /><br />The player allegedly failed to pay 1.39 million euros in taxes during the 2011 fiscal year; 1.66 million in 2012, 3.2 million in 2013 and 8.5 million in 2014. <br /><br />The prosecution said Ronaldo had taken advantage of a corporate structure created in 2010 that served to conceal the iconic player's income derived from his image rights. <br /><br />It cited as precedent the recent verdict by Spain's Supreme Court that confirmed the 21-month prison sentence imposed on FC Barcelona's Argentine forward Lionel Messi for tax fraud. <br /><br />Messi was found guilty of evading some 4.1 million euros in taxes, also in relation to the exploitation of his image rights. <br /><br />The prosecution's complaint is set to be reviewed by the courts, which will decide the penal consequences, if any, that Ronaldo could face. <br /><br />According to the complaint, after signing his contract with Real Madrid in 2008, Ronaldo "simulated" ceding his image rights to a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven in the Caribbean. <br /><br />Ronaldo was listed as the sole member of the company, Tollin Associates LTD. <br /><br />Tollin ceded the exploitation rights to Ronaldo's image to another company in Ireland, Multisports & Image Management LTD, which actually managed the soccer icon's image while Tollin apparently remained inactive and was kept dormant. <br /><br />The prosecution said that ceding the rights at first to Tollin was "completely unnecessary," unless the intent was to set up a shell company as a vehicle to defraud taxes. <br /><br />It added that Ronaldo declared in his tax returns a domestic-source income of 11.5 million euros between 2011-14 when, in reality, it amounted to nearly 43 million euros. <br /><br />Ronaldo also allegedly described some of his income as returns on property investment instead of earnings from economic activities, which allowed him to considerably reduce his taxable base. <br /><br />While Ronaldo's net assets are unknown, most sources estimate his wealth to be at least somewhere between 230-290 million euros. <br /><br />According to Forbes, he was the best-paid sports figure in 2016, when he saw an income of some $88 million. <br /><br />That year, he also inked a lifetime deal with apparel giant Nike worth upward of $1 billion. <br /><br /> <br /><br />SHOT LIST: FILE FOOTAGE <br /><br /> <br /><br /> Keywords: efe,real madrid,cristiano ronaldo,,fraud,tax,football,soccer<br /><br />
