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Spanish judge rejects prosecutor’s request to drop tax fraud charges against Lionel Messi

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FILE - In this Sept. 27, 2013 file photo, FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi, left, arrives at a court to answer questions in a tax fraud case in Gava, near Barcelona, Spain. A Spanish judge on Monday July 28, 2014 has rejected a prosecutor\'s request to drop charges of tax fraud against Messi and ordered the investigation into three cases of suspected unpaid taxes to proceed. A court statement says there is "sufficient evidence" to believe the Argentina player "could have known and consented" to the creation of a fictitious corporate structure to avoid paying taxes on income made from Messi\'s image rights. Messi\'s father, Jorge Horacio Messi, is under investigation for an alleged euro4 million (.3 million) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

MADRID – A Spanish judge has rejected a prosecutor’s request to drop charges of tax fraud against Lionel Messi and ordered the investigation into three cases of suspected unpaid taxes to proceed.

A court statement says there is “sufficient evidence” to believe the Argentina player “could have known and consented” to the creation of a fictitious corporate structure to avoid paying taxes on income made from Messi’s image rights.

The statement was issued Monday by the court in Gava, Barcelona.

In June, Messi’s public relations firm said a prosecutor had agreed to drop the tax fraud case against the player and his father.

Messi’s father, Jorge Horacio Messi, is under investigation for an alleged 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in unpaid taxes from 2007-09.

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