Ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone spared jail after admitting fraud

Ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has been spared jail after admitting fraudulently failing to declare more than £400 million held in a trust in Singapore to the Government.

The court heard the 92-year-old former racing driver has agreed a civil settlement of £652,634,836 in respect of sums due to HMRC over the course of 18 years from 1994.

HMRC said the sum includes money owed as part of his wider tax affairs, as well as a penalty of more than £340 million.

At Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, Ecclestone was handed a 17-month jail term, suspended for two years.

Before his guilty plea, Ecclestone had attempted to dismiss proceedings by claiming “unpopular remarks” he made about Russian President Vladimir Putin on daytime television were the reason for the prosecution, rather than “legitimate public interest”.

His defence barrister, Christine Montgomery KC, told sentencing judge Mr Justice Bryan that the defendant “bitterly regrets the events that led to this criminal trial”.

Sentencing Ecclestone, who heard the judge’s remarks from the dock, Mr Justice Bryan said: “Your offending is so serious that neither a fine or a community order would be appropriate.

“It is rightly acknowledged that the custody threshold has been passed.”

However, he said he had taken into consideration a number of mitigating factors, including Ecclestone’s health, age, and that he has no previous criminal convictions.

The former racing driver said “I plead guilty” while standing in the well of the court, wearing a dark suit and grey tie.

He admitted that on July 7 2015, he failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing around 650 million US dollars, worth about £400 million at the time.

Before his guilty plea, he had been due to face trial in November on the single fraud charge.

Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court a meeting was held between Ecclestone and HMRC officers in July 2015.

Outlining the issues in the case he would be sentencing Ecclestone for, Mr Justice Bryan told the defendant: “Towards the end of the meeting you were asked if, since the conclusion of the previous investigation in 2008, and excluding the trusts referred to so far in the course of the meeting, whether you were linked as a settlor or beneficiary to any other trust in or outside the United Kingdom.

“You replied ‘no’. That was a lie.

“You were in fact linked to a trust structure known as the ‘Kinan Trust’ and another known as the ‘Nanki Trust’.

“I also bear in mind, as the prosecution have made clear before me, that the prosecution are very mindful, and have kept under careful review, the public interest in bringing and continuing these proceedings given your age and health.

“The prosecution have borne in mind the report of the cardiologist Professor Knight and the evidence given by him to this court as to your health and the risks that would be presented by a trial.”

Addressing the civil settlement figure agreed with HMRC, the judge said: “I accept that this settlement reflects a determination and demonstration of steps taken on your part to address your offending subject to this indictment and also reflects remorse on your part for your offending.”

Mr Wright said Ecclestone was “seeking to a draw a line under investigations into his tax affairs”.

He added: “He was fed up of paying huge bills for advice.”

In 2014, Ecclestone agreed to pay £60 million to bring an end to a bribery trial in Germany.

The billionaire was alleged to have bribed a German banker to steer the sale of German regional bank BayernLB’s 47.2% stake in F1 to a private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners, in 2006. CVC were the majority shareholders in F1 at the time.

At the time, Ecclestone said he was “a bit of an idiot” for paying the settlement.

After deliberating for three hours on the offer made by the defence and agreed by the prosecution, the presiding judge, Peter Noll, declared: “The charges could not, in important areas, be substantiated.”

As a result of that investigation, HMRC opened a tax fraud investigation into Ecclestone.

Asked outside court whether he was pleased with the judge’s sentence, Ecclestone smiled and nodded and said something unintelligible to reporters.