FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2013 file photo, Barcelona's Lionel Messi from Argentina reacts after losing the Copa del Rey soccer match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain. A state prosecutor for the northeastern region of Catalonia has lodged on Wednesday June 12, 2013, a lawsuit against Lionel Messi for fraud in unpaid income tax amounting to euro4 million ($5.3 million). The complaint, signed by prosecutor Raquel Amado, has been submitted for trial at the courthouse in Gava, the upscale Barcelona district where the Argentina forward lives. The document, presented to the court on Wednesday, brings a lawsuit against Barcelona star Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi.(AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File) | Photo Credit: Manu Fernandez
The family of Lionel Messi denied on Monday that he was involved in tax evasion after the football star emerged as one of many personalities accused of shady offshore dealings in the so-called Panama Papers scandal.
"The Messi family wants to make clear that Lionel Messi has not carried out any of the acts attributed to him, and accusations he created a... tax evasion plot, including a network of money-laundering, are false and insulting," it said in a statement.
