Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone slapped with 17-month suspended prison sentence
Ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has admitted fraud after failing to declare more than £400m held in a trust in Singapore to the government, and has been handed a 17-month suspended sentence.
The 92-year-old said “I plead guilty” at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday while standing in the well of the court wearing a dark suit and grey tie.
On July 7 2015, the billionaire failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing around $650m, worth about £400m at the time.
His 17-month sentence will be suspended for two years.
Ecclestone was in charge of Formula 1 for 40 years before being removed in 2017.
He officially left the sport in 2020 after three years as chairman emeritus.
The charge stated Ecclestone, who has three grown-up daughters, Deborah, Tamara and Petra, and a young son, Ace, had “established only a single trust, that being one in favour of your daughters and other than the trust established for your daughters you were not the settlor nor beneficiary of any trust in or outside the UK”.
Before his guilty plea, he had been due to face trial in November on the single fraud charge.
Press Association – Josh Payne and Luke O’Reilly