Former F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone, 92, Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

Bernie Ecclestone pleaded guilty to charges of misleading tax authorities on Thursday, ending a case involving hundreds of millions of dollars held in Singapore and not disclosed to the British government in 2015. Ecclestone was handed a 17-month prison sentence suspended two years, meaning that he will not see jail time for the crime unless he commits another in that window. He also agreed to a civil settlement totaling $800 million over the case.

Ecclestone, who turns 93 this month, was accused of not declaring all trusts where he was the settlor or beneficiary when asked directly by authorities in 2015. That allowed him to hide at least one other trust, one that held $650 million in Singapore in 2010. Attorney Clare Montgomery told Reuters that this was the result of an “impulsive lapse of judgment,” one that was caught by authorities and directly responsible for harsh financial penalties. According to the judge, Ecclestone’s health and age were considered in the sentencing.

While he has not been in charge of the sport since 2017, Ecclestone has been a major figure in F1 since the founding of the Formula One Teams Association 1974. He became president of that group in 1978, his first of many titles over nearly four decades of either effectively running Formula 1 or serving as its most powerful dissenting voice. His time running the sport came to an end shortly after Liberty Media bought F1 in 2016. He has since had a fourth child, a son born in July of 2020 when Ecclestone was 90 years old.