Becker’s daughter ‘in shock’ over his jailing for bankruptcy fraud
BORIS BECKER’S daughter has said she is “in shock” about her father’s prison sentence and fears it will be hard on his young son.
Anna Ermakova said she had written to the judge who jailed her tennis champion father for two-and-a-half years for bankruptcy fraud, asking for leniency for the sake of his 12-year-old son, Amadeus.
Ms Ermakova, who was conceived during Becker’s infamous encounter with waitress Angela Ermakova at London restaurant Nobu in 1999, told German newspaper Bild: “I wrote a letter to the court to express my concern for my little half-brother, Amadeus.
“After all, he is only 12 and will now have to do without a father figure, whom he will lack during a difficult phase of his development.
“It’s not fair to him. It’s going to be tough for Amadeus.”
Judge Deborah Taylor, sitting at Southwark Crown Court last Friday, gave the six-time Grand Slam champion a 30-month sentence, of which he will serve half, for hiding £2.5m of assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.
The 54-year-old three-time Wimbledon champion and former world number one was declared bankrupt on June 21, 2017, owing creditors almost £50m, over an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.
BBC commentator Becker transferred almost e427,000 (around £390,000) from his business account to others, including those of his ex-wife Barbara Feltus and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker.
The father-of-four also failed to declare his share in a £1m property in his home town of Leimen, Germany, hid an e825,000 (almost £700,000) bank loan – worth £1.1m with interest – and concealed 75,000 shares in a tech firm, valued at £66,000.
Becker, who was handed a twoyear suspended sentence for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion worth e1.7m in Germany in 2002, was found guilty last month of four offences under the Insolvency Act between June 21 and October 3, 2017.