Bernie Ecclestone charged with fraud as ex-F1 boss accused of hiding over £400m in assets

Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is set to be charged with fraud by false representation after HMRC launched an investigation into undeclared oversee assets said to be worth more than £400million. The Crown Prosecution Service have now authorised the charge after reviewing evidence from HMRC.

Chief crown prosecutor, Andrew Penhale, confirmed that Ecclestone will face charges “in respect of his failure to declare to HMRC the existence of assets held overseas believed to be worth in excess of £400m.

And he added: “The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against this defendant are now active and that they have a right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”

Meanwhile, the director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service, Simon York said: “We can confirm that a fraud by false representation charge has been authorised against Bernard Ecclestone. This follows a complex and worldwide criminal investigation by HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service.

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Ecclestone entered F1 in 1972 when he bought the Brabham team from Ron Tauranac. And the businessman then formed the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA) in 1974. The 91-year-old oversaw the sport as its chief for over 40 years, before Liberty Media took it over in 2017.

And following his departure from the sport, he said: “I’m proud of the business that I built over the last 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula One. I’m very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase [Carey] will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport.”

Ecclestone has been hit by a series of controversies throughout his career and recently insisted that he would “take a bullet” for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and that Lewis Hamilton should just “brush aside” the racial slur that Nelson Piquet used to describe him.