A Spanish court sentenced Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi to 21 months in prison for three counts of tax fraud The Barcelona forward and his father received time for defrauding Spain of 4.1 million euros between 2007 and 2009 The Barcelona court also fined them nearly $2.2 million for hiding the true extent of their income from image rights However, the sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court and Spanish law allows tax prison sentences for less than two years to be served with probation Since this was Messi’s first offense, he won’t be required to serve time as long as he doesn’t break the law again