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A Spanish court has dismissed a new complaint against Barcelona's talisman Lionel Messi, which had been filed for fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. The complaint was filed by Federico Rettori, an Argentine national living in Spain who claimed he formerly worked for Messi's charity. Rettori had filed a similar complaint in 2019 also, which was also dismissed. In the complaint, Rettori had claimed that funds received by Messi's foundation went "towards various private activities or bank accounts that differed from those that were declared by the foundation". He mentioned that these funds "should have been directed to social causes" instead.
In the latest complaint filed by Rettori in 2020, he had named Messi, his charity, his father Jorge and brother Rodrigo for fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. After his earlier complaint was dismissed, Rettori added more documents to try to back his claims but was unsuccessful once again.
Rettori was never employed by Messi's foundation: Spanish court
Spain's National Court said in its ruling that after two years of investigating "no criminal act on the part of the people targeted by the complaint could be proven".
The court also said Rettori was never employed by Messi's foundation.
Instead, he headed an association called "El Buen Camino", or "The Right Path", which received 150,000 euros ($177,000) in 2014 and 2015 to fight infant mortality in Sierra Leone, the court said.
However, this project was aborted due to an Ebola epidemic in the West African country.