Leo Messi and his father will stand trial over accusations that they defrauded authorities of more than $4.5 million between 2007 and 2009, the Spanish newspaper El Pais reports.

A Barcelona judge rejected Messi's appeal, deciding that he had benefited from a scheme allegedly set up by his father to defraud Spanish tax authorities of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million).

Whether or not Messi knew he was breaking tax laws, the judge ruled, did not matter.

The question of whether Messi knowingly participated in the alleged fraud, or if it was all his father's idea, will be addressed during his trial.

Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, are accused of circumventing tax obligations in Spain by using companies in Belize and Uruguay to sell the rights to Messi's image. Messi's father allegedly set up the scheme when his son was still a minor.

Father and son have both denied the allegations, and Messi's lawyers have argued that he "has never spent one minute of his life reading, studying, or analyzing" the contracts involved in the alleged scheme.

Prosecutors retorted that Messi had signed the contracts when he turned 18 and was listed as a sole administrator of one of the fraudulent companies in question.

A judge first ruled against Messi and his father in October, stating that "in this type of crime, it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the accounting and business operations nor the exact quantity, rather it is sufficient to be aware of the designs to commit fraud and consent to them."

The Messis' appeal of this ruling was finally rejected Wednesday. Father and son will appear in court sometime this summer.

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