AKIPRESS.COM - The Spanish Supreme Court has rejected FC Barcelona soccer star Lionel Messi's appeal, confirming his conviction on tax fraud charges, Forbes reported.

The original punishment, which included a prison sentence and a fine, will stand.

Last July, a Spanish court found Messi and his father, Jorge Messi, guilty of tax fraud. Messi and his father were each sentenced to 21 months in prison. The length of the sentence was significant because, in Spain, those who receive a light prison sentence do not usually serve time unless the offense involves a violent crime or if the defendant is a habitual offender. Typically, a light sentence is one under two years which means that the pair would likely serve probation.

Charges were initially filed against the Argentine footballer in 2013. Spanish tax authorities alleged at the time that Messi’s father used a series of shell companies in tax havens to shield royalties and licensing income from tax. Authorities had alleged that income from lucrative contracts with such companies as Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Adidas was funneled offshore to Belize and Uruguay through an elaborate maze of entities and countries so that Messi and his father could avoid paying income tax in Spain as far back as 2005.

Messi consistently maintained throughout the proceedings that he did not do anything wrong. Nonetheless, shortly after the charges against him were made public, he took steps to clear the tax debt, making a "corrective payment" of €5 million ($6.57 million U.S.). Nonetheless, in 2015, Spanish tax authorities ordered the footballer to stand trial.