Three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for hiding £2.5million in assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.
The 54-year-old former world No. Spain.
BBC commentator Becker transferred nearly 427,000 euros (around £390,000) from his business account to others, including those of his ex-wife Barbara Becker and ex-wife Sharlely ‘Lilly’ Becker.
The father-of-four also failed to declare his share in a £1million property in his hometown of Leimen, Germany, hid an 825,000 euro (nearly £700,000) bank loan – d worth £1.1m with interest – and hid 75,000 shares in a technology company, valued at £66,000.
Becker, who received a two-year suspended prison sentence for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion worth 1.7 million euros (about £1.4 million) in Germany in 2002, has was convicted of four offenses under the insolvency law between June 21 and October 3, 2017 earlier this month.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and Judge Deborah Taylor will sentence the six-time Grand Slam champion at Southwark Crown Court on Friday afternoon.
Becker, dressed in a striped tie in the Wimbledon colors of purple and green, arrived at court holding the hand of his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, while his eldest son Noah carried a large Puma bag.
The tennis star told jurors his career earnings of US$50m (about £38m) had been eaten up by a costly divorce from his first wife Barbara, child support and “commitments of expensive lifestyle.
The German national, who has lived in the UK since 2012, said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” when he was declared bankrupt.
He claimed to have cooperated with administrators responsible for securing his assets, even offering his wedding ring, and to have relied on the advisers who managed his life.
However, Becker was found guilty of four counts, including removal of property, two counts of non-disclosure of estate and concealment of debts.
Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley said on Friday the jury found he acted “deliberately and dishonestly”, but added: “Even now, Mr. Becker still seeks to blame others when it was clearly his duty.”
The court heard he received €1.13m (about £950,000) from the sale of a Mercedes car dealership he owned in Germany into a business account used as his ‘piggy bank’ for his expenses personal.
They included £7,600 of the children’s school fees, nearly £1,000 at Harrods and payments made to Ralph Lauren, Porsche, Ocado and a Chelsea children’s club.
He also paid 48,000 euros (about £40,000) for ankle surgery at a private clinic and spent 6,000 euros (about £5,000) at a luxury golf resort in China, the court heard.
Becker was acquitted of 20 counts, including nine counts of not presenting trophies and medals from his tennis career.
He said he didn’t know where the memories were, including the 1985 Wimbledon title that shot him to stardom at the age of 17.
Becker was also cleared of failing to declare a second German ownership, as well as his interest in the £2.5million Chelsea flat occupied by his daughter Anna Ermakova, which was conceived during the infamous encounter Becker’s sex with waitress Angela Ermakova at London restaurant Nobu in 1999.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, defending, said Becker did not spend money on a “lavish lifestyle”, but used funds to pay child support, lawyers, business expenses and rent.
He added: ‘He was in desperate financial straits and what he essentially did was exercise his own choice as to which creditors to pay, choosing or preferring to pay money to dependents rather than to allow joint trustees to determine how these funds should be. applied.”
More about this article: Read More
Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-04-29 14:55:22
