Agent Jorge Mendes appears before judge in Falcao tax probe
MADRID (AP) Football agent Jorge Mendes has told a Spanish judge that he had no involvement in the financial planning of client Radamel Falcao, who has been accused by a state prosecutor of tax fraud.
Mendes, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, appeared before a judge in a Madrid court for 45 minutes on Tuesday as part of the probe into whether there are grounds for the case against Falcao to go to trial.
Mendes' agency, Gestifute, released a statement saying that ''neither he nor his employees have ever intervened in the creation of corporate structures for his clients and much less provided any tax advice to them.''
Last month, a state prosecutor accused Falcao of defrauding Spain's Tax Office of around $6 million from 2012-13. The alleged unpaid taxes were from money the Colombian player made from endorsement deals through image rights, not from the salary he was then being paid from club Atletico Madrid. Falcao now plays for Monaco.
