Homes Of Two PSG Stars And PSG's HQ Raided In Money Laundering Investigation

According to reports, tax authorities in France have raided the homes of Paris Saint-Germain players Ángel Di María and Javier Pastore as well as the club’s own offices today, as part of an investigation into possible money laundering on the part of all three parties.

This inquiry into Di María’s and Pastore’s taxes stems from the two Argentine stars’ contracts with PSG that were leaked to French investigative journal Mediapart back in December. Mediapart received the purported contracts in question from the whistleblower group Football Leaks. The documents outlined a number of tax-dodging payment schemes where Di María’s and Pastore’s salaries and image rights income were to be hidden in payments to shell corporations in various tax havens so as to avoid France’s high tax rate.

The club is under investigation to see if they played a part in any potential tax evasion, according to Bloomberg’s reporting:

Investigators are looking into whether the PSG soccer team, which is backed by the Qatari government, helped the players avoid tax, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. The players and their legal advisers have made contact about paying back any tax they may owe but that is separate to the criminal investigation, the person added.

Di María and Pastore now join fellow soccer luminaries like Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Cristiano Ronaldo as star players who have been subject to tax fraud investigations.

[ Bloomberg]