Real Madrid forward and Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo has no reason to worry about reports of tax problems related to his hotel investments, sources close to the player have told ESPN FC.
Ronaldo is under investigation by Spain’s tax authorities, who say he and his advisers used a web of companies in Ireland and the British Virgin Islands to avoid paying €14.7 million on image rights income between 2011 and 2014.
A judge is set to rule on whether the case should move to trial in the coming weeks.
El Mundo reported on Friday, based on documents seen by Football Leaks, that a chain of companies in Luxembourg and Jersey was used to manage income from Ronaldo’s investments with Portuguese hotel group Pestana.
Ronaldo’s representatives at Gestifute have always maintained that their client’s tax affairs are all completely correct, and sources have told ESPN FC that all the relevant documents and details regarding his hotel investments have always been filed with the tax authorities.
There are two Ronaldo-branded Pestana hotels — one on his home island of Madeira and the other in Lisbon, with a third currently under construction on Madrid’s Gran Via.
On Saturday, Ronaldo posted a photo of himself and girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez at one of the hotels on Twitter.
In August, Ronaldo responded to tax allegations against him with an Instagram post about “insects” being attracted by “my brilliance,” and in December, when El Mundo claimed he could face a custodial sentence because of his unwillingness to cooperate with the authorities, Ronaldo posted a photo of himself with his children and wrote that he was “a prisoner of these beautiful babies.”
Dermot Corrigan is a Madrid-based football writer who covers La Liga and the Spain national team for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcorrigan
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