(London) The trial for tax evasion of former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone will be held in a year, from October 9, 2023, British justice decided on Tuesday.
Posted at 9:29
Ecclestone, 91, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in London on Tuesday. He is accused of failing to declare to the British tax authorities more than 400 million pounds ($620 million) in assets held abroad between 2013 and 2016.
The prosecution had authorized his indictment in July following a tax investigation presented as “complex and international” and, during a hearing in August, the former F1 magnate had pleaded not guilty.
On Tuesday, Bernie Ecclestone appeared in court in a dark three-piece suit, accompanied by his wife, and was allowed to attend the hearing right behind his lawyers rather than in the area dedicated to the defendants, because of his hearing problems.
His trial next year is expected to last up to six weeks, prosecutor Alexander Langhorn said.
Ecclestone reigned supreme over F1 for almost 40 years, until January 2017.
He had then left his position as leader of the elite of world motorsport after being dismissed by the new holder of the commercial rights of the discipline, the American group Liberty Media.
Short-lived racing driver in the late 1950s then boss of the Brabham team, the British businessman, whose fortune was estimated by the magazine Forbes at more than 2.5 billion pounds (3.9 billion dollars), is widely considered to be the architect of the transformation of F1, which has become a lucrative business under his rule.
In particular, at the end of the 1970s, he was one of the pioneers in the marketing of television broadcasting rights for sporting events.