A court in Brazil has sentenced Wagner Ribeiro to five years plus in prison for tax evasion, according to reports.
The agent, who is close to Real Madrid and its president Florentino Perez, was found guilty of reducing taxes from 2002 to 2005.
The prosecutor claimed he earned over €1.2 million but declared around €165,000. The agent who is popular amongst Brazil football stars like Kaka, Robinho, ViniciusJr, worked with Neymar as well.he made huge sums of money when he worked on the deal that saw Robinho move to Real Madrid in 2005 but he failed to declare full income for taxation.
Ribeiro would not serve his term in jail but in a semi open prison but he has the option of appealing the decision. For now, the judge asked him to submit his passport – a thing he cannot work without as a football agent. All the stars he worked with have reportedly abandoned him.
The same Ribeiro has made Barcelona suffer in the deal for Neymar. The agent tried to sell information about the deal to Perez, sources say, despite being Neymar’s agent. From 2011, Neymar switched to his father as his agent, cutting off connections with the agent since then.
The same Neymar is facing charges of tax evasion in Spain. Messi lost an appeal regarding the same issue and the pattern continues amongst elite football stars.
