Former tennis champ Becker gets jail in bankruptcy case
German tennis great Boris Becker was jailed for two years and six months by a London court on Friday for hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds of assets after he was declared bankrupt.
Becker was convicted earlier this month of four charges under Britain's Insolvency Act, including failing to disclose, concealing and removing significant assets following a bankruptcy trial.
The 54-year-old six-time Grand Slam champion was found guilty of transferring money to his exwife Barbara and estranged wife Sharlely after his 2017 bankruptcy.
“It is notable you have not shown remorse or acceptance of your guilt,” judge Deborah Taylor told him as she sentenced him at London's Southwark Crown Court.
“While I accept the humiliation you have felt as a result of these proceedings, you have shown no humility.”
She said Becker would serve half his sentence behind bars and the remainder on licence. Becker, whose partner Lillian and son Noah were in court, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.
He was previously convicted of tax evasion in Germany in 2002, for which he received a suspended prison sentence.
When Becker won his first Wimbledon final in 1985 at age 17, he was the youngest and first unseeded player to claim the men's singles title. He went on to two win more Wimbledon titles. Major League Baseball suspended Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer a total of 324 games — effectively two full seasons — without pay on Friday for violating the league's domestic violence policy.
The ban is effective immediately and would last into the 2024 season.
While the Commissioner's Office did not issue any additional statements upon concluding its investigation into allegations made against Bauer, the pitcher immediately took to social media to announce his intention to appeal the decision.
“In the strongest possible terms, I deny committing any violation of the league's domestic violence & sexual assault policy,” Bauer wrote on Twitter. “I am appealing this action and expect to prevail. As we have throughout this process, my representatives & I respect the confidentiality of the proceedings.”
Bauer, 31, was due to earn US$32 million this year and in 2023 as part of a three-year, $102 million deal signed prior to the 2021 season. He is suing the woman who accused him of sexual assault, contending her motive was to destroy his “reputation and baseball career, garner attention for herself, and extract millions of dollars” from him.
Bauer made just 17 starts last season and pitched 107 2/3 innings to begin his stint with the Dodgers. He was 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA and received his full base salary of $28 million in 2021.
Zion Williamson said he wouldn't hesitate to sign an extension with the New Orleans Pelicans this off-season.
Williamson, 21, who missed the entire 2021-22 season with a broken right foot, addressed the media for the first time since September.
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Williamson is eligible to sign a five-year, $181 million max rookie extension this summer.
Juergen Klopp said he hopes that his decision to extend his contract will guarantee stability for Liverpool, adding that he wants to keep the Premier League club successful “forever.”
The 54-year-old German manager, who joined Liverpool from Borussia Dortmund in October 2015, signed a two-year extension on Thursday that will keep him at Anfield until 2026.
The consortium led by L.A. Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly is in exclusive negotiations to buy Premier League club Chelsea for $3 billion, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Earlier on Friday, British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe announced that he had made a last minute “formal bid” to buy the club for 4.25 billion pounds ($5.33 billion).
Chelsea was put up for sale by owner Roman Abramovich following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and before sanctions were imposed on the oligarch by the British government.