F1 boss charged in $44-million bribery case
Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has been charged by German prosecutors with paying a $44-million bribe, placing his future as head of the motorsport series in doubt.
The 82-year-old British billionaire has been under investigation since a German banker was convicted of taking the payment from him in connection with the sale of a stake in F1. The Munich state court said Ecclestone has until midAugust to respond to charges of bribery and incitement to breach of trust in connection with Gerhard Gribkowsky’s management of the bank BayernLB’s 47 per cent stake in F1.
Ecclestone acknowledged during Gribkowsky’s trial in 2011 that he made the payment five years earlier but said he was pressured to do so. Ecclestone’s indictment was dated on May 10 and has since been translated into English and delivered to Ecclestone and his lawyers, the court said
“The lawyers have accepted an indictment,” Ecclestone told The Associated Press. “It means they have to reply to the indictment, which they are strenuously doing.”
Ecclestone, whom Forbes magazine reports is worth $3.8 billion, said he is yet to read the indictment. “They are alleging I bribed someone,” Ecclestone said, while insisting he did “nothing illegal.” Sentences in Germany for bribery range from three months to 10 years in prison.