Brazil and Barcelona forward Neymar is set to appear in court after he lost an appeal against corruption charges relating to his transfer from Santos to Barcelona in 2013. Along with Neymar, Barcelona, his former club Santos and his parent's company will all stand trial after a complaint was filed by Brazilian investment group DIS.
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Ever since Neymar made his big money move to Barcelona in 2013, there has been a lot of controversies surrounding his transfer as it was never made clear how much the club actually paid for him and former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell and current chief Josep Maria Bartomeu also have charges filed against them.
"Santos FC, Barcelona FC, Neymar, his mother Nadine Goncalves and N&N, the family company, have lost their appeals to have charges of fraud and corruption dropped," the Spanish High Court said in a statement.
The investment group DIS paid around €1.4 million in 2009 for 40 percent of Neymar's rights and they were supposed to receive a share of the transfer fee that Barcelona paid for the Brazilian and while they did receive a portion of the transfer fee, they claim that they received a smaller compensation because a part of the fee was concealed by those involved.
DIS received just €6.8 million from the transfer and is still seeking more money after it was revealed that Barcelona paid €40 million separately to Neymar and his father as the overall costs of the transfer reached almost €100 million. If these reports are true then the investment company is entitled to an additional €3.2 million.
The company is also seeking a two year prison sentence and a fine of almost €10 million for Neymar and his father on corruption charges and even if the Barcelona star is found guilty he will not spend any time in jail as first time offenders in Spain are usually exempted. They are also seeking a fine of about €9 million from Barcelona and €7 million from Santos.
This is not the first legal battle a Barcelona player is facing as Lionel Messi was sentenced to 21 months in prison and Javier Mascherano sentenced to a year in jail after the two of them were accused for tax fraud but since they were first time offenders they did not have to serve their sentence.
