Money laundering case against Messi dismissed

The national court ruled that after two years of investigation “no criminal act on the part of the people targeted by the complaint could be proven,” Agence France-Presse news agency reported.

Federico Rettori, an Argentine national living in Spain, claimed he formerly worked for Messi’s charity and alleged funds received by the foundation which should have been directed to social causes went instead “towards various private activities or bank accounts that differed from those that were declared by the foundation”.

In the complaint filed in 2020 he named the Barcelona and Argentine striker, his father Jorge, his brother Rodrigo and the charity. Rettori had filed a similar complaint in 2019 which was also dismissed.

In its latest ruling, the court said he was never employed by Messi’s foundation, but instead headed an association called El Buen Camino (The Right Path) which received €150,000 ($177,000) in 2014 and 2015 to fight infant mortality in Sierra Leone.