LONDON — Ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has admitted fraud after failing to declare more than £400 million (RM2.318 billion) of overseas assets to the British government, reported German news agency (dpa).
The 92-year-old former racing chief said “I plead guilty” at Southwark Crown Court today while standing in the well of the court wearing a dark suit and grey tie.
On July 7, 2015, the billionaire failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing around US$650 million, worth about £400 million then.
The charge stated Ecclestone, who has three grown-up daughters, Deborah, Tamara and Petra, and a young son, Ace, had “established only a single trust, that being one in favour of your daughters and other than the trust established for your daughters you were not the settlor nor beneficiary of any trust in or outside the UK”.
Before his guilty plea, he had been due to face trial in November on the single fraud charge. — October 12, 2023