Bernie Ecclestone was forced to plead guilty to tax fraud charges last year and ordered to pay more than £652 million to the British Treasury. According to this indicator, the former head of Formula 1 management rose to second place in the list of citizens of the United Kingdom who paid the largest amounts of taxes in 2023, as well as various types of fines.
Obviously, the reason why Ecclestone was one of the leaders of this rating is quite unenviable: HMRC accused him of not paying taxes up to an impressive amount of 400 million pounds. The legal battle with HRMC over financial assets placed in a certain trust fund in Singapore went on for quite some time, and in the end Bernie not only had to pay a truly astronomical sum, but was also given a 17-month suspended prison sentence.
However, Ecclestone continues to insist that he has always paid British taxes correctly and did not ‘accidentally’ declare those Singaporean millions.
“I have always paid tax, every year, and still pay tax in Britain,” he told the Times. – The problem arose because of my foreign assets – HRMC believed that I also had to pay tax on that. But to be honest, I was wrong and I think everyone understood.”
Claire Montgomery, Ecclestone’s lawyer, was able to save him from a real prison sentence by citing her 93-year-old client’s poor health as an argument.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
