Spain's Supreme Court has rejected the prosecution's appeal and acquitted former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, along with ex-forward Neymar Junior, of corruption charges tied to Neymar's move from Santos to Barcelona.
The ruling closes a case that has moved through Spanish courts for 3.5 years, after the original verdict was handed down in December 2022. The complainant, the company DIS, had argued that it was financially harmed by the agreement that brought Neymar's transfer forward by one year.
In its judgment, the court said the arrangement that advanced the Brazil forward's move to Barcelona by one year was a sporting decision, not a financial one. That finding undercut the core of the corruption allegations, which centered on claims of business corruption and bribery through a simulated contract involving Rosell, Bartomeu, Neymar and Santos.
The dispute grew out of Neymar's transfer from Santos, where DIS acquired the economic rights to him in 2009 for R5m when he was 17 years old. DIS said the later deal disadvantaged it economically. Barcelona had already faced a penalty from Spain's tax authority over misreporting the total fees in the transfer.
The total cost of the Neymar deal is believed to have been €88m, while the initial figure reported was €65m. Neymar left Barcelona four years later for Paris Saint-Germain, in a move worth a world record €222m, and Barcelona made a profit of €134m on him. With the Supreme Court's ruling, the legal fight over one of the club's most scrutinized transfers has reached its end in Spain.
