Cristiano Ronaldo has recently been caught in a wave of controversy regarding the recent leak of tax-related documents by Football Leaks. The leaked information accuses numerous European soccer stars of moving various amounts of money to offshore accounts in order to avoid paying taxes.
In particular, the leak suggests that Ronaldo moved 63.5 million euros to the British Virgin Islands to save money on taxes. But what's perhaps most shocking is Ronaldo's response.
Gestifute, the company which manages Ronaldo's funds, recently released claims for the amount that the Portuguese star made in 2015, in addition to the amount that he has in offshore accounts, and the numbers are pretty staggering.
According to Gestifute, Ronaldo earned about 203.7 million euros outside of Spain in 2015! That's almost 4 million euros every week! In addition, Ronaldo reportedly made 23.5 million euros inside the country, and he has about 20 million euros in 22 Swiss bank accounts.
(Getty Images)
All of Ronaldo's representatives maintain that Ronaldo owes no money in taxes, and that he has been honest all along with Spanish authorities on the matter. They released a statement on the tax claims that they have made, saying:
"This document confirms that tax authorities have knowledge of all assets and revenues of Cristiano Ronaldo. The player will not make further statements on the subject."
The data leak reportedly involves over 18 million documents, and alleges that Ronaldo moved money to the Virgin Islands that came from image rights.
Ronaldo is far from the only player involved in the allegations, and it will take quite some time to sort through the vast trove of information that has been leaked. In other words, we may be hearing about this for a long, long time.
For the time being, Ronaldo seems to be unfazed by the situation. In a recent post-game interview, he said, "He who owes nothing isn't afraid."
Honestly though, even if he does owe something, he can probably afford it.
