Bernie Ecclestone, former chief of Formula 1 racing, has spent $802 million, or about a quarter of his fortune, on closing a case of fraud against him. Ecclestone pleaded guilty in court to not reporting hundreds of millions of dollars that were being held in a trust in Singapore, and as part of his sentence he’ll be paying $802 million US in combined taxes, interest, and penalties.
The 92-year-old Ecclestone was also sentenced to 17 months in prison, but the presiding judge suspended the sentence due to his advanced age and declining health. If he stays out of trouble for two years, the sentence will be lifted completely.
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Andrew Penhale is the chief crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service in the United Kingdom, where the trial was held, and he released a statement to the press on the significance of Ecclestone’s case:
“All members of UK society, regardless of how wealthy or famous they are, must pay their taxes and be transparent and open with HMRC about their financial affairs.”
It’s not the only legal trouble faced by Ecclestone in recent years. In 2008 he paid the sum of 10 million pounds in order to clear a British tax debt, and in 2014 he managed to get out of charges of criminal bribery with a fine of $100 million. That deal was reportedly “widely criticized” and possibly played a role in Ecclestone getting a stiffer sentence in the current case, which began in 2015 when he claimed to only have one trust within the UK to his name.
That turned out not to be the case, and Ecclestone was keeping hundreds of millions outside the country to avoid taxation. He reportedly planned to plead not guilty and was going to stand trial on the fraud charges, but at some point he decided to plead guilty instead, perhaps to avoid prison.
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