Two friendly matches organised by the Lionel Messi Foundation are suspected of being a front for Mexican drug cartel money laundering, according to a report in El Mundo.
Both American and Spanish authorities are said to have found evidence of tax fraud and possible cartel involvement in the 2012 and 2013 fixtures in Colombia, which featured Barcelona’s three-time Ballon d’Or winner and a number of his footballing pals.
The Messi & Friends games were organised under the alleged guise of raising money for impoverished children around the world, and are claimed to have been funded by a Mexican drug cartel who used them as a front for a money laundering scheme involving the profits of narcotics trafficking.