Bernie Ecclestone Bribes His Way Out of Bribery Charge

Luke Vandezande
by Luke Vandezande

Former Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone will avoid jail time because of a technicality in Germany that allows defendants to end a trail for a fee.

The wildly wealthy and rarely liked F1 figure was forced to step down from his position with the sport after it came to light that he bribed a banker with $45 million to ensure that a company he favored would purchase a large stake in F1. Despite being officially forced to step down from his position, Ecclestone is running the sport from behind the scenes.

SEE ALSO: Bernie Ecclestone Indicted on Bribery Charges

The bribed banker went to jail, but according to The Guardian, Ecclestone won’t suffer the same fate. Instead, he paid the court $100 million to end the trial. According to the paper, this isn’t the first time a wealthy offender paid to end a trial in the country, but it is the biggest fee ever paid to do so.

[Source: The Guardian]

Luke Vandezande
Luke Vandezande

Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.

More by Luke Vandezande

Comments
Join the conversation
Next