MADRID, 12 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
British tycoon Bernie Ecclestone pleaded guilty before a judge to having defrauded more than 400 million pounds (462 million euros) from his country’s treasury, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), for which he received a 17-month sentence. of prison and a fine of 653 million pounds.
Ecclestone, head of Formula 1 until 2017, had been under investigation since 2015, on a charge of fraud after failing to declare a trust in Singapore. The 92-year-old businessman reached a civil agreement to replace that amount with interest.
The Englishman will not have to go to prison, which is why his legal team defended his advanced age, his medical problems and the absence of risk to the public. Ecclestone was summoned to testify again next month in London after pleading not guilty in the first instance.
The former F1 CEO had declared not to have benefited from any trust inside or outside the United Kingdom, but after a “complex and global” investigation, according to HMRC, it was possible to demonstrate that this had not been the case.