IIn the London trial for bankruptcy offenses, the jury found former tennis star Boris Becker guilty of several charges. The jury decided on Friday that the 54-year-old had withheld parts of his assets from his insolvency administrator. Becker could face a hefty fine or even a prison sentence of up to seven years. Judge Deborah Taylor of Southwark Crown Court will set the sentence, it is to be announced on April 29 – until then, Becker will remain free on bail. But he has to hand in his passport and is not allowed to travel. He can still appeal the verdict.
The jury found Becker guilty of four counts. He hid large sums of money from the insolvency administrator and moved it to other accounts; he had hidden a property in his native town of Leimen (Baden-Württemberg); He also concealed a loan of EUR 825,000 from a Liechtenstein bank and a large block of shares in Breaking Data Corp.
The three-time Wimbledon winner, who has lived in London since 2012, denied all allegations in the process. Red-faced, Becker watched the verdict in his defendant’s glass case, standing in the windowless courtroom at Crown Court. He then told journalists outside the court south of the Thames that he would not comment on the verdict. For the German, who suddenly rose to world fame in 1985 as a 17-year-old Wimbledon winner, it was probably one of the most bitter moments of his life.
“In money matters a hopeless case”
Five years ago, after earning more than $50 million in prize money and advertising as a young man, he had filed for personal bankruptcy. In June 2017 he was declared bankrupt by the UK Insolvency Service after defaulting on a £3million loan on his Mallorca estate. The public prosecutor has accused him of 24 counts of not correctly giving the insolvency administrator assets worth millions, including real estate in Germany and England, accounts and valuable sports trophies. The jury has now acquitted Becker on 20 of the 24 charges. Becker’s lawyer had defended him with the argument that the tennis player had not taken care of financial matters, had not read contracts, and had not paid bills. Instead, he left all this to his advisors. Although he was “a hopeless case in money matters”, he was not a criminal.
The missing trophies included two of the three Wimbledon trophies, his Olympic gold medal, the 1991 and 1996 Australian Open trophies, the 1989 Davis Cup and more. Becker said he didn’t know where they went in some cases. He even offered his “very expensive” wedding ring to the insolvency administrator in order to settle debts.
In the process, Becker had to provide detailed information about his finances. He described how his once great wealth had evaporated. In his tennis career until 1999 he had about 25 million dollars in prize money and also as much income from advertising contracts. It is known that he relied on financial advisors. In the meantime, his network of companies, which included two marketing agencies, is said to have employed several hundred people. He was also a partner in the sporting goods manufacturer Völkl Tennis. He also continued to promote various brands. His commercial for the Internet provider AOL in the late 1990s, in which he asked: “Am I in yet?” became well known.
He was unable to explain exactly how he lost his fortune in court. He vaguely cited an “expensive divorce” from his ex-wife Barbara, millions for his daughter Anna Ermakova and an “extensive lifestyle” such as spending on his Wimbledon villa, which costs nearly a quarter of a million pounds a year to rent. Apparently, however, Becker also lost millions with large bad investments, for example in car dealerships or the Internet portal Sportgate. After the end of his tennis career, he earned much less. From 2013 to 2016 he was the coach of Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic. Until recently, Becker commented on tennis matches for the BBC.
During the court process, Becker was accompanied by his girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro. His son Noah was also there that week, including on Friday.
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