Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone considers himself “an idiot” after agreeing to $107 million settlement for bribery charges in a Bavarian court.
German law enabled the 83-year-old a reprieve from a lengthy trial while also maintaining his innocence under the condition $US99 million is paid to the state and a further $1 million to a children’s charity within a week.
The hefty sum equates to chump change for the British billionaire, said to be worth between $5.5 and $7 billion; a small price to pay in the face of a 10-year prison sentence should he have been found guilty of bribing a former German banker during the sale of a major F1 stake eight years ago.
Ecclestone allegedly brokered a $44 million deal with Gerhard Gribkowsky to ensure F1 shares owned by BayernLB were sold to bidder CVC Capital Partners in the UK, now the motorsport’s majority shareholder, during the 2006 acquisition.
“The bottom line is it’s been three and a half years of aggravation, travelling, meeting lawyers, and God knows what else, so it is good it is out of the way,” a grateful Eccelestone said.
“In the end what has happened today is good and bad; the good is the judge more or less said I was acquitted, and they [the prosecution] really didn’t have a case.
“So I was a bit of an idiot to do what I did to settle because it wasn’t with the judge, it was with the prosecutors.”
CVC co-founder and co-chairman, Donald Mackenzie, declared last year that he “would fire” the long-time F1 figure, who is employed by CVC, if found guilty, but now, with the trial out of the way, Ecclestone is expected to return to his role atop the racing world.
Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
