£28m ransom demand BERNIE’S MUM-IN -LAW KIDNAPPED BY BRAZIL GANG
£28million ransom demand
FORMULA One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law has been kidnapped in Brazil, according to reports.
Aparecida Schunk , 67, the mother of Ecclestone’s Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi, was snatched on Friday night near her home in São Paulo.
The kidnappers are said to be demanding a ransom of £28m for her release and are in contact with the Ecclestone family, it is claimed.
A source close to the police investigation told Brazilian magazine Veja the criminals have stipulated the ransom money be paid in pounds sterling and split into four plastic bags.
The amount is the largest ever demanded in a kidnapping in Brazil, which sees hundreds of cases a year.
Ecclestone, 85, met Fabiana, 38, in 2009 in the run-up to the Brazilian Grand Prix in Interlagos, where she was working as marketing director for Brazil’s Formula One.
The couple wed three years later after Ecclestone divorced his wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic.
Fabiana and her mother, who continued living in the Interlagos district of São Paulo, are close.
In a Facebook post on Mother’s Day, she wrote: “Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers, and especially mine. There are no words to thank so much love and dedication. Thank you Mum, I love you.”
Fabiana, who is friends with Sky Sports F1 reporter Natalie Pinkham, and Ecclestone live in London.
Ecclestone is the UK’s fourth richest person with an estimated £3.2billion fortune, and one of the most powerful people in sport.
He married for the first time in 1952, aged 21, to telephone operator Ivy Bamford. They split up in the 1960s.
He went on to have a 17-year relationship with Tuana Tan, from Singapore, and was was with her when he began an affair with Croatian model Slavica in 1982. They wed three years later.
Their 2009 divorce settlement was estimated at more than £594m.