Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone pleads not guilty to tax fraud charges – Bernie Ecclestone, the long-time Formula One supremo, pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of massive tax fraud for which he has been indicted in the UK.
The 91-year-old Ecclestone appeared in a dark suit, escorted by his lawyers and bodyguards, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court where he was summoned.
He was asked to identify himself and then pleaded not guilty. He remains at liberty until a further hearing on the 19th of September.
He is accused of failing to declare more than £400 million (€473 million) of assets held overseas to the UK tax authorities between 2013 and 2016.
Prosecutors authorised his indictment in July following a tax investigation described as “complex and international”.
Bernie Ecclestone ruled F1 for nearly 40 years. He stepped down as head of the world’s elite motorsport in January 2017 after being sacked by the sport’s new commercial rights holder, US-based Liberty Media.
A short-lived racing driver in the late 1950s and then boss of the Brabham team, the British businessman, whose fortune has been estimated by Forbes magazine at more than £2.5 billion, is widely regarded as the architect of the transformation of F1 into a lucrative business under his stewardship.
In particular, in the late 1970s he was one of the pioneers in the marketing of television rights to sporting events.
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Let that be a lesson to the wealthy. That at 91 years old the the “Tax Man” will come after you if they will come after Bernie. Where’s has all his political connections gone?
Hypocrisy though, every mp and especially ex prime minister are raking it in one way or another and they pick on him?
Mirror, mirror on the wall…
He deserves all he’s going to get. Unfortunately he’s to old to go to jail. No sympathy for the obnoxious little gnome.
I would still let the courts put him in jail,He’s meant to have 2.5 billion and yet he still screws the tax man for 400 million,shows you that when you are rich they still want more, People are desperate with everything going up in prices and this little toad with his billions dosen,t give a damn.JAIL HIM IF FOUND GUILTY.