Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone dodges jail for tax fraud

FORMER Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday (Oct 12) received a non-custodial sentence after pleading guilty in a UK court to charges of failing to declare a multi-million-pound trust in Singapore to the British tax authorities.

The 92-year-old, wearing a dark suit and grey tie, told London’s Southwark Crown court: “I plead guilty.”

He was handed a 17-month sentence suspended for two years, meaning he will only serve jail time if he reoffends within that time.

Ecclestone was charged last year over an alleged failure to declare more than £400 million (S$671 million) of overseas assets to the UK government in 2015, and was due to stand trial in November.

He had previously told tax officials that he did not have any undeclared trusts in or outside the UK. But prosecutor Richard Wright told court: “That answer was untrue or misleading.”

“Mr Ecclestone was not entirely clear on how ownership of the accounts in question were structured,” he added. “He therefore did not know whether it was liable for tax.”

“He now accepts that some tax is due in relation to these matters,” said Wright.

The court heard Ecclestone had agreed a civil settlement of £652,634,836 with tax authorities.

The British businessman, whose financial net worth has been estimated at some US$3 billion, is widely credited with transforming Formula 1 commercially.

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His control of the sport developed from the sale of television rights in the 1970s, and he was chief executive of Formula 1 Group until January 2017.

The flamboyant former second-hand-car salesman ran Formula 1 with an iron fist for more than four decades, building it into a global empire with a cut-glass brand.

But his career has not been without controversy.

Ecclestone paid US$100 million to German authorities to end a high-profile bribery trial in 2014, which was linked to the sale of Formula 1’s rights in 2006 and 2007.

Although he had faced a possible 10-year prison sentence if found guilty, many in the Formula 1 paddock remained loyal.

“Formula 1 is what it is thanks to Bernie Ecclestone, to the way he has built this sport over the past 35 years,” Christian Horner, team principal at Red Bull, said at the time. “I think that without him, we would have big problems.”

Divorce payout

He also stoked up controversy in 2009 by claiming that Adolf Hitler was a man who “was able to get things done”, and that democracy had not worked out for Britain.

Holder of a chemistry degree from Woolwich Polytechnic in south-east London, Ecclestone, known for his grey mop-top hairstyle, began his career selling cars and motorcycles in the capital, and also briefly drove race cars himself.

His own modest career was cut short following a series of accidents, and he turned to the business side of racing.

He was a manager of promising British Formula 1 driver Stuart Lewis-Evans, who died in a fiery crash in 1958. A decade later he managed Austrian Jochen Rindt, who was killed in a crash in 1970 and is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula 1 world title.

In 1971 Ecclestone bought the Brabham team, becoming a member of the Formula 1 Constructors’ Association, the group that represented teams against what became the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

Ecclestone’s influence increased as he took over responsibility for negotiating television rights for Formula 1, which until then was done on a race-by-race basis.

One of the first to recognise the potential in sponsorship, he became the exclusive manager of Formula 1 rights, taking the helm of Formula 1 Management, negotiating with circuits, advertisers and television stations.

Ecclestone’s fortune was dented after having had to pay out one billion euros (S$1.4 billion) to divorce his wife Slavica – the mother of two of his children, Tamara and Petra.

In 2012, he remarried for a third time, to Brazilian Fabiana Flosi – 46 years his junior – whom he met at the South American country’s grand prix. AFP