Topline
Billionaire Bernie Ecclestone pleaded guilty to fraud on Thursday after British prosecutors accused him of hiding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets abroad, the latest in a line of scandals surrounding the controversial former Formula One boss.
Bernie Ecclestone pleaded guilty to fraud in London.
Key Facts
The 92-year-old admitted to fraud after he failed to declare a trust in Singapore that held around $650 million to British tax authorities in 2015.
“I plead guilty,” Ecclestone told a judge at Southwark Crown Court in London, according to news reports.
Ecclestone was charged with fraud by the Crown Prosecution Service last year following a “complex” investigation by Britain’s tax agency, HMRC, and the billionaire, who had previously entered a not guilty plea to the fraud charge, had been due to stand trial for the charge in November.
Prosecutors told the court Ecclestone had declared just one trust in favor of his daughters to tax officials and misled authorities when he said he had no links to others, despite not being clear himself on the ownership structures and whether they were liable for tax.
Without knowing that information, prosecutors argued Ecclestone’s answer was knowingly “untrue or misleading” and could have stopped authorities continuing any investigations into his tax affairs.
Ecclestone reportedly reached a settlement with HMRC on Monday to pay £652.6 million ($803 million) to HMRC covering 18 tax years.
Key Background
Ecclestone headed Formula One for four decades and transformed it from a niche sport into a global phenomenon. During this time, and despite selling most of his stake in the 1990s, he controlled the sport and business, eventually leaving the driver’s seat in 2017, when Liberty Media bought F1 for $4.4 billion. He is a polarizing figure and has been no stranger to scandal over the years. In 2022, he was arrested in Brazil after a gun was found in his luggage in an airport. Separately, he praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and called him a “first-class person” who he’d “take a bullet” for, later apologizing and stressing that he does not support the country’s invasion of Ukraine. He has also apologized for unsavory comments about Adolf Hitler, been accused of bribing a banker in Germany—he was cleared after settling the case in court— said the sport of F1 was “too busy” to deal with racism and was at the center of a huge political donation scandal in Britain in the 1990s.
Forbes Valuation
$2.9 billion. That’s Ecclestone’s net worth, according to Forbes’ real time tracker.
Further Reading
Billionaire Bernie Ecclestone Charged With Fraud (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/10/12/billionaire-ex-f1-boss-bernie-ecclestone-pleads-guilty-to-fraud/