Their names have appeared on some of the 12 million official documents analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Respectively coach and player of PSG, Mauricio Pochettino and Angel Di Maria are cited in the vast Pandora Papers investigation, based on a leak of confidential files and which sheds light on the workings of the world of offshore finance.
And the two Argentines find themselves involved in these revelations, which began on Sunday, for different reasons.
First case, that of the midfielder.
The international, winner of the Copa America with his selection this summer, uses a company based in Panama, Sunpex Corporation Inc, to base the income related to the exploitation of his image.
His contracts, in particular those with Coca-Cola and Adidas, allowed him to accumulate up to 9.5 million dollars (8.21 million euros) at the end of 2016, an amount attested in the Pandora Papers.
Di Maria has already been pinned by the Spanish tax authorities
However, Angel Di Maria had already been sanctioned by the Spanish justice for the funds sent to Sunpex between 2011 and 2013 and had to pay a fine of two million euros. But even after this conviction, his Panamanian company continued to collect income related to the image of the Parisian milieu. And it was also used to invest: in 2017, Angel Di Maria had investments of 8.5 million dollars, or 7.35 million euros, in Argentine public bonds, but also in companies like EDF. , Shell or Petrobras.
As the Argentinian daily La Nacion explains, the player's entourage replied to the ICIJ that the creation of this company was an idea of his accountant at the time but that Di Maria “did not know that this recommendation was not” was not reasonable for the Spanish authorities ”.
If Sunpex Corporation Inc, the player's representatives ensure that everything is declared to the French tax authorities, on which he depends since his arrival in France in 2015.
A company in the British Virgin Islands for Pochettino
The company created by Mauricio Pochettino, Poinsettia Properties Ltd, was based in the British Virgin Islands, another tax haven. According to documents that leaked via the Pandora Papers, the current Parisian technician created this offshore company in 2010, when he was leading the Espanyol Barcelona sessions. According to his entourage, the company was declared in Spain and then in the United Kingdom - where he trained from 2013 to 2019 - and it would have served to manage a possible family succession and to order the income of the Pochettino clan.
But why not have done it in Argentina, his native country, or in Spain where he lived then?
"It's easier from a legal point of view, explains to the ICIC one of his relatives according to remarks reported by the Nacion.
If something had happened to Mauricio, his heirs would not have paid taxes for the corporate structure that collected this money.
Poinsettia Properties Ltd was finally dissolved in 2017.
Pochettino isn't the only trainer to see his name appear in the Pandora Papers.
His Manchester City counterpart, Pep Guardiola, is also cited, as is Carlo Ancelotti, who returned to the Real Madrid bench this summer.
