Former tennis player Boris Becker, bankrupt, sentenced to two and a half years in prison in particular for having hidden money – Liberation

The penalty is heavy. Boris Becker is sentenced this Friday to two and a half years in prison by British justice for four counts related to his personal bankruptcy. The 54-year-old former German tennis player will thus be imprisoned after being found guilty in particular of having hidden 2.5 million pounds sterling (3 million euros) in assets and loans to avoid paying his debts.

The former world tennis number 1 is notably accused of having transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling from a professional account to other accounts, in particular those of his ex-wives, of not having declared a property in Germany and hiding a loan of 825,000 euros and shares in a company.

Boris Becker arrived in court this Friday morning by taxi, walking hand in hand with his partner, Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro, before returning to the building. Serious-faced, he wore a purple and green tie, the colors of Wimbledon, while his eldest son, Noah, 28, entered with a sports bag.

Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley had accused him of using a professional account as a “piggy bank” for day-to-day expenses or school fees for their children. Boris Becker, who disputes all the charges, was acquitted of twenty other counts, including those relating to the disappearance of his trophies. He assured the audience that he did not know where they were.

Lost rewards

Among the nine accolades creditors would have liked to get their hands on are two of his three Wimbledon cups, two Australian Open trophies and his doubles gold at the 1992 Olympics.

The former tennis star said during the trial which was held from March 21 to April 8 to still have in his possession “a lot” of awards and memories amassed in fifteen years on the circuit, but some have disappeared.

He had already sold part of his awards at auction for 700,000 pounds (840,000 euros) in order to pay off part of his debts. At the time of his bankruptcy, the player’s debts were estimated at up to 50 million pounds sterling (59 million euros).

The announcement of his bankruptcy came a few days before the Wimbledon tournament, on which the former tennis player was working for the BBC and Australian and Japanese television. At the hearing, he had told how much he had beenshocked by the situation”. “It was all over the news, I walked through the gates of Wimbledon and everyone knew. I was embarrassed because I was bankrupt“, he had declared.

Tarnished “Becker brand”

According to the former world number 1, his bankruptcy and his treatment in the media have undermined the «marque Becker», so much so that he then had difficulty repaying his debts. This case is not the first for the German, a restless sportsman, who had lived in Monaco and Switzerland before settling in England.

He has already had legal setbacks for unpaid debts with the Spanish justice concerning works in his villa in Majorca and with the Swiss justice for not having paid the pastor who had married him in 2009. In 2002, the German justice l had also given a two-year suspended prison sentence, as well as a fine of 500,000 euros for some 1.7 million euros in tax arrears.

Cornered by British justice, he attempted a final gamble in 2018, claiming to have been named «attaché» to the European Union for cultural, sporting and humanitarian affairs by the President of the Central African Republic. His lawyer had argued that his role granted him diplomatic immunity preventing him from being sued for the payment of other debts, before renouncing this claim.