BRASILIA, Brazil
\nA Brazilian investment firm has called for Neymar to face a five-year prison sentence when he stands trial next week on fraud and corruption charges relating to his transfer to Barcelona from Santos in 2013.
\nDIS, which owned 40% of the rights to the Brazil forward at the time, argues it lost out because the transfer fee was undervalued.
\nNeymar, 30, has denied the allegations but lost an appeal in Spain\u2019s High Court in 2017, leading to the trial being brought by Spanish prosecutors.
\nThe Paris St-Germain player will have to appear in-person for the first day of the trail in Barcelona on Monday, the court said, but it is unclear if he will be asked to stay for the entire hearing that could last two weeks.
\nThe other defendants are Neymar\u2019s parents, the two clubs, former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, and former Santos president Odilio Rodrigues.
\nRosell has also previously denied any wrongdoing.
\nIn a statement, Baker McKenzie, the lawyers representing the Neymar family, claimed that Spanish courts \u201clack jurisdiction to prosecute the Neymar family and their company N&N\u201d because the acts were committed by Brazilian nationals outside Spanish territory.
\nThey also point out that the alleged crimes are not punishable in Brazil.
\nDIS acquired a percentage of Neymar\u2019s rights when he was 17, in exchange for 2m euros.
\nBarcelona said at the time of Neymar\u2019s move that the transfer fee was 57.1m euros, of which 40m euros was paid to his family.
\nThe investment firm received a 40% share of the remaining 17.1m euros that was paid to Brazilian club Santos.
\n\u201cNeymar\u2019s rights have not been sold to the highest bidder,\u201d DIS lawyer Paulo Nasser told a news conference in Barcelona on Thursday. \u201cThere were clubs that offered up to 60m euros.\u201d
\nAs well as the five-year jail term demand, DIS is also requesting prison sentences for Rosell and Bartomeu, and a 149m euros fine.
\nSpanish prosecutors want a two-year prison term for Neymar and the payment of a 10m euros fine and a five-year jail term for Rosell, plus an 8.4m euros fine for Barcelona.
\nBaker McKenzie\u2019s statement added that the Neymar family have been charged with \u201ccorruption between private individuals\u201d which applies to \u201ccompetition of products and services between companies\u201d whereas Neymar \u201cis not a service or a commodity\u201d. Finally, the statement added that the transfer had not broken any Fifa rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BRASILIA, Brazil A Brazilian investment firm has called for Neymar to face a five-year prison sentence when he stands trial next week on fraud and corruption charges relating to his transfer to Barcelona from Santos in 2013. DIS, which owned 40% of the rights to the Brazil forward at the time, argues it lost out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-289300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n