Football star, Neymar and the other defendants in the case were cleared by a Spanish court of charges of fraud and corruption in connection with the Brazilian’s 2013 move from Santos to Barcelona.
Neymar, his father, and the previous owners of Santos and Barcelona were accused by the plaintiff, a Brazilian company, DIS, of concealing the cost of his transfer on purpose to avoid paying DIS what it was owed as the partial owner of his player rights.
However, the court said in a statement on Tuesday that “it has not been proven that there was a false contract or that DIS was intended to be harmed.”
The verdict is not a surprise following the decision by Spanish state prosecutors to drop all charges during the trial.
That left only the lawyers of DIS to continue arguing their case.
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DIS had initially sought a five-year prison sentence for the 30-year-old Neymar. But following the withdrawal of the state prosecutors, DIS’ lawyers reduced their demands to two-and-a-half years of prison.
The legal victory for Neymar comes days after he and his Brazil team were eliminated from the World Cup by Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals.
Rodrygo’s message to Neymar after Brazil’s quarterfinal exit from the World Cup 🥺💚 pic.twitter.com/YmLFzo499S
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) December 11, 2022
The other defendants declared innocent were Neymar’s father, who goes by the same name, his mother, former Santos president Odilio Rodrigues and former Barcelona executives Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu.
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