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F1 icon Bernie Ecclestone has admitted fraud after failing to declare more than £400million to the government.
The 92-year-old appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday wearing a dark three-piece suit and grey tie.
Ecclestone said ‘I plead guilty’ while leaving the premises.
Back in July 2015, the billionaire failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing $650m – which works out as roughly £400m.
F1: Bernie Ecclestone confirmed he had pleaded guilty to fraud after leaving court on Thursday
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The charge stated Ecclestone 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’.
Ecclestone has four children in total.
The former F1 mogul has three daughters named Deborah, Tamara and Petra.
And he also has a young son, Ace, who was born back in 2020.
Prior to pleading guilty, Ecclestone had been due to face trial in November on the single fraud charge.
The charge alleged Ecclestone ‘dishonestly’ told HMRC information ‘which was, and which you knew was or might have been, untrue or misleading’.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charge in July last year.
HMRC conducted a probe that was ‘complex and worldwide’.
Chief crown prosecutor Andrew Penhale said at the time: “The CPS has reviewed a file of evidence from HMRC and has authorised a charge against Bernard Ecclestone of fraud by false representation in respect of his failure to declare to HMRC the existence of assets held overseas believed to be worth in excess of £400 million.”
Ecclestone is one of the richest people in the United Kingdom.
The 92-year-old has a net worth of £2.3bn.
Ecclestone said he was ‘wrong’ to answer the questions he did because it ‘ran the risk HMRC would not continue to investigate’.
And he also added that he ‘accepts that some tax is due’.
Speaking last month, meanwhile, Ecclestone said F1 had changed since his stint in charge and believes the calendar is now too packed.
“My opinion is that 18 races is enough,” he told the Daily Mail.
“We did 20 and I often thought that that was a bit too much.
“Because you have to think of the teams.
“Before long, they will have to employ double staff. With 22 or 23 races there will be too many divorces. It is a matter of when.
“I can understand the commercial people because they can say they are signing long-time agreements and that apparently makes the company they work for a lot more money.
“They can say they have 10-year contracts or whatever. So what they are doing is 100 per cent right for them at the moment, commercially.
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F1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone has now accepted ‘some tax is due’
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“But, without any shadow of a doubt, I would stick to 18 prestigious races.
“That’s because we don’t know how long-term the contracts are on paper.
“We don’t know whether they will suddenly decide that it isn’t working too well and stop.”
