Photo: Brembo
Bernie Ecclestone, the man who controlled Formula One for four decades, is going on trial on Monday in the UK for alleged tax fraud. The 91-year-old billionaire is accused of failing to declare EUR 400 million (ca. $399 million at today's rates) in overseas assets, and he denied the charges with a not guilty plea last month.
It is important to note that the accusations refer to the period between July 2013 and October 2016, when Bernie was still in charge of Formula 1. At the time, British tax officials had carried out a worldwide investigation into his finances.
Not only was he the boss of F1, but Bernie has been a controversial figure for the last three decades or so. Ecclestone has controlled Formula 1 since the 1970s, up until 2017, so there are few people in the world who could consider him a nouveau riche.
The accusations that Bernie Ecclestone face involve failing to declare an involvement in a Singapore-based trust when he was inquired by the Revenue and Customs bureau’s officers.
The accusations claim that the trust had been established in favor of his daughters, while allegedly claiming that he is “not the settlor or beneficiary of any trust in or outside the UK,” while “intending to make a gain, namely not stated, for yourself.”
The said trust was allegedly in control of an account in a Singapore bank that had approximately $650 million in it. Those are more zeroes than regular folk are used to seeing on their balance statements, but even a billionaire must keep tabs on his hundreds of millions, or else he ceases to be a billionaire, right? We are just guessing on this one, as we are not millionaires or billionaires, but we are sure we could become the former if we became the latter.
A month ago, Bernie Ecclestone was granted unconditional bail, and he left court without addressing the members of the press who were waiting outside the Southwark Crown Court. As Euronews notes, Bernie was previously arrested in Brazil this May for carrying a gun in his luggage while boarding an airplane. That was not the first time when Bernie had issues with the law.
Not only was he the boss of F1, but Bernie has been a controversial figure for the last three decades or so. Ecclestone has controlled Formula 1 since the 1970s, up until 2017, so there are few people in the world who could consider him a nouveau riche.
The accusations that Bernie Ecclestone face involve failing to declare an involvement in a Singapore-based trust when he was inquired by the Revenue and Customs bureau’s officers.
The accusations claim that the trust had been established in favor of his daughters, while allegedly claiming that he is “not the settlor or beneficiary of any trust in or outside the UK,” while “intending to make a gain, namely not stated, for yourself.”
The said trust was allegedly in control of an account in a Singapore bank that had approximately $650 million in it. Those are more zeroes than regular folk are used to seeing on their balance statements, but even a billionaire must keep tabs on his hundreds of millions, or else he ceases to be a billionaire, right? We are just guessing on this one, as we are not millionaires or billionaires, but we are sure we could become the former if we became the latter.
A month ago, Bernie Ecclestone was granted unconditional bail, and he left court without addressing the members of the press who were waiting outside the Southwark Crown Court. As Euronews notes, Bernie was previously arrested in Brazil this May for carrying a gun in his luggage while boarding an airplane. That was not the first time when Bernie had issues with the law.
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