Bernie Ecclestone indicted for UK tax fraud

Sport World

Bernie Ecclestone, former Formula 1 number one, has been indicted for tax fraud in the UK for £ 400 million held overseas and undeclared to the tax authorities. This was reported by the director of the anti-fraud investigation service of the Treasury and Customs (Hmrc), explaining that the 91-year-old Ecclestone will have to answer for the crime of false declarations.

The indictment is part of a long international investigation, the investigators explained.

Who is Bernie Ecclestone

Born in a small town near Bungay, Suffolk, the son of a fishing boat captain, Sidney Ecclestone (1903-1990) and his wife Bertha (1905-1995), Bernie Ecclestone spent his childhood in Wangford, near Southwold.

His family then moved to Bexleyheath, a town in south-east London and, when he dropped out of school at the age of 16, he got a job at the local gas plant as an assistant at the chemical laboratory, where his father has a friend.

who is the manager. But Ecclestone's real passion are engines, a passion that soon develops in two complementary directions: on the one hand, seeing him try to build a career as a motorcycling rider immediately after the war, and on the other seeing him sell and buy motorcycle parts, such as way to be able to finance the races.

It is this second activity that has been most successful, leading him to create Compton & Ecclestone with a partner, which over the years will make it one of the largest British dealerships. In 1949 he too tried to compete with four wheels in Formula 3, but after a serious accident at the Brands Hatch circuit in which he was the protagonist, he decided to retire and devote himself solely to business.

In 1957 Ecclestone decides to return to the world of motoring both as the manager of the driver Stuart Lewis-Evans, then as the buyer of the Connaught team, for which he makes Lewis-Evans himself race, in addition to other drivers and ultimately even trying to qualify himself as a competitor at the 1958 Monaco Grand Prix.

At the end of that year, however, Lewis-Evans was the victim of a very serious accident at the wheel of a Vanwall during the Moroccan Grand Prix, which subsequently led to his death. Due to this Ecclestone decides to abandon any further activity in car racing.

His return to motor racing dates back to the late sixties, as manager of Jochen Rindt; even this driver's career, however, ended tragically in Monza in 1970 while he was preparing to win his first world championship, a title that was then awarded to him posthumously; and once again, as a result, Ecclestone retires from his racing activities.

In the latter case, however, a shorter retirement, 1972 saw him return after taking over the Brabham team from Ron Tauranac.