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Ecclestone to pay $800m after pleading guilty to tax fraud
Former Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has been ordered to pay $800 million after pleading guilty to tax fraud in court in the United Kingdom.
Ecclestone had previously entered a not guilty plea to the charge relating to a trust held in Singapore, having not disclosed it to the government back in 2015. Appearing at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, he accepted he had committed fraud by false representation, just over a month before he had been due to stand trial in the case.
The 92-year-old held around $650m – worth about £400m at the time – in the trust, and has now reached a settlement with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in which he agreed to pay back more than $800m (£652m) after entering his guilty plea. He was also sentenced to 17 months in prison, suspended for two years.
Ecclestone was charged after an investigation into his finances by HMRC, in which he had stated he had established a single trust for his daughters and when asked if he held any links to any further trusts in or outside the UK had replied: “No.”
Sky News quoted Prosecutor Richard Wright KC as saying in court: “That answer was untrue or misleading. Mr Ecclestone knew his answer may have been untrue or misleading.
“As of 7 July 2015, Mr Ecclestone did not know the truth of the position, so was not able to give an answer to the question.
“Mr Ecclestone was not entirely clear on how ownership of the accounts in question were structured. He therefore did not know whether it was liable for tax, interest or penalties in relation to amounts passing through the accounts.
“Mr Ecclestone recognizes it was wrong to answer the questions he did because it ran the risk that HMRC would not continue to investigate his affairs. He now accepts that some tax is due in relation to these matters.”
Ecclestone was still chief executive of the Formula One Group at the time of the incident, a position he held until January 2017 following Liberty Media’s takeover.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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