Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone pleads guilty to fraud charge after failing to declare £400m

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has pleaded guilty to fraud at Southwark Crown Court after failing to declare more than £400 million of overseas assets to the government.The charge against the 92-year-old was authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in July last year following an investigation by Revenue and Customs (HMRC).He was photographed arriving at court wearing a three-piece suit and grey tie.

Speaking in court, he said: "I plead guilty". On July 7 2015, the billionaire failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing around 650 million US dollars, worth about £400 million at the time.The charge stated Ecclestone, who has three grown-up daughters, Deborah, Tamara and Petra, and a young son, Ace, 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".Before his guilty plea, he had been due to face trial in November on the single fraud charge. Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. The court heard Ecclestone had said "no" when asked by HMRC officers whether he had any links to any further trusts "in or outside the UK".Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: "That answer was untrue or misleading."Mr Ecclestone knew his answer may have been untrue or misleading."As of July 7, 2015, Mr Ecclestone did not know the truth of the position, so was not able to give an answer to the question."Mr Ecclestone was not entirely clear on how ownership of the accounts in question were structured."He therefore did not know whether it was liable for tax, interest or penalties