The German ex-tennis star Boris Becker was convicted by a court in London of delaying bankruptcy.
Former tennis star Boris Becker has to go to prison. A court in London sentenced the three-time Wimbledon winner to two and a half years in prison, of which he must serve at least half.
The former exceptional athlete had not disclosed assets worth more than one million euros in his insolvency proceedings. A jury found Becker guilty of several charges three weeks ago. The 54-year-old had denied the allegations. He can appeal against the judgment.
The lay judges at London’s Southwark Crown Court had found that Becker had concealed ownership of a property in his hometown of Leimen, illegally transferred large sums to other accounts and concealed shares in an artificial intelligence company and a loan debt.
The public prosecutor had raised a total of 24 charges against Becker. Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley found it proven that he had deliberately concealed numerous possessions and was now blaming his advisers, who he said had handled his finances. The defender of the tennis legend had said his client was naive but innocent. The jury followed this line of argument in 20 points, including when it came to the question of missing trophies. But the guilty verdict on four counts is enough to fundamentally change Becker’s life.
Declared bankrupt in 2017
Becker, who lives in London, was declared bankrupt in 2017. He then had to disclose his assets to the insolvency administrators – but according to the court, he left out important parts.
The three-time Wimbledon winner had collected around 25 million US dollars in prize money during his career and, according to his own estimates, earned around the same amount from . However, he ran into financial problems. Becker blamed the expensive divorce from ex-wife Barbara and high maintenance costs for daughter Anna Ermakowa in court.
Becker commented, among other things, for the BBC tennis tournaments and is very popular with the British. His partner Lilian De Carvalho Monteiro accompanied him to court every day, most recently his eldest son Noah was also at his side. The two were also there on Friday.
The President of the German Tennis Association (DTB), Dietloff von Arnim, had reaffirmed his loyalty to Becker before the sentence was announced. Arnim said on Friday on the sidelines of the clay court tournament in Munich that he had “undeniably celebrated outstanding successes” for German tennis. “We stand there, I would say, loyal to our tennis icon.”
(APA/dpa)