Boris Becker will spend two and a half years in prison for lying when he filed for bankruptcy

The legendary former German tennis player Boris Becker (54)Winner of six Grand Slam tournaments, was sentenced on Friday by a British court two and a half years in prison for four financial crimes associated with its bankruptcy in 2017.

The sentence came after he was convicted by a jury of Southwark court in London on April 8 guilty of these crimes, committed between June 21 and October 3, 2017.

The jury considered it proven to be the former number one in the world hidden assets and loans worth approximately £ 2.5m (about 3 million euros) to avoid repayment of its debts worth approximately 50 million pounds (60 million euros).

At the time of his bankruptcy in June 2017, the player, who had won 49 titles in a 16 -year athletic career, had debts estimated at 50 million pounds (about 65 million dollars at current exchange rates).

He was charged with 24 counts of concealment of assets, But he was found guilty by a South London jury of only four, including theft of assets, non-disclosure of assets and concealment of debt.

He was also convicted of not declaring property in Germany and hiding 825,000 euros of bank debt and shares in artificial intelligence technology company Breaking Data Corp.

The judge released him on parole on bail. and set this Friday, April 29, the announcement of his sentence, which could up to seven years in prison for each case.

Earlier, the jury acquitted him of 20 cases, including failing to deliver nine trophies and medals to his creditors, including three Wimbledon trophies, two Australian Open trophies and his 1992 Barcelona Olympic gold medal.

The world’s first racket in 1991, Becker said during the trial that some of his prizes were gone and made sure he would give them away if he knew where they were.

Neither was held against him the allegation of not declaring a second property in Germany, as well as interests in the London flat occupied by his daughter Anna Ermakova.

During the trial, the prosecution claimed that Becker collected 1.13 million euros ($ 1.22 million) from the sale of a Mercedes car dealership he owned in Germany, which he paid into a professional bank account he used as his “piggy bank.” “staff with to pay for expensive purchases and school fees for their children.

Address

Becker exploded on tour at just 17 in 1985 when he became the youngest Wimbledon singles champion, quickly adopted by the public as their favorite player for his dynamic play and youthful enthusiasm. His fierce service earned him the nicknames “Baby Boom Boom” and “Der Bomber”.

A year later, he successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating world number one Ivan Lendl in the final.

In 1989, he won Wimbledon for the third time and claimed his first US Open title.

the disaster

But after climbing to number one in the world two years later, he began his decline: prone to emotional outbursts, often losing fights he could afford and being fined for breaking his racket, showing inconsistency. -new personality that tormented him. stay in the game. top of tennis

He lifted his last Grand Slam title at the 1996 Australian Open before retiring three years later.

He then coached Novak Djokovic from 2013 to 2016, helping the Serb break the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

But his private life was chaotic, with marital breakdowns and a bizarre incident in which he claimed to be the Central African Republic’s representative for sport, culture and humanitarian affairs in the European Union.

In 2002, a court in the German city of Munich sentenced him to a two-year suspended sentence and a fine of 300,000 euros ($ 330,000) for tax evasion of approximately 1.7 million euros.

Source: agencies