Bernie admits to 2 Billion tax avoidance.

Greenlantern101

Greenlantern101

Super Hero And All Round Good Guy
Contributor
Yesterday in court Bernie Eccelstone admitted to paying 27.5 million to banker Gribkowsky as blackmail money to allegedly avoid him going to the British tax authority who could of made things very expensive for Bernie in the shape of £2 Billion pounds.

Is this the beginning of the end for Bernies dictatorship in F1 ? Any other person in this position who allegedly admits to tax avoidance of 2 Billion would at the very least be forced to resign if not go to prison.

Which brings up the other point. How on earth did he get immunity from prosecution.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96047
 
Depends where his immunity from prosecution is. This is in Germany, wonder if that extends to the UK tax authorities?
 
FB said:
Depends where his immunity from prosecution is. This is in Germany, wonder if that extends to the UK tax authorities?
Click to expand

I doubt that it it does.And I cannot see the UK IRS granting him immunity anyway.
But most of Bernies various intersts lie in offshore counties, whether or not this makes any difference I don't know.
One thing for sure is that if Bernie had nothing to hide he had no reason to pay any "hush money"
 
It's actually quite hard to see how he's going to wriggle out of this one - it's certainly a novel line of defence!

"I didn't want HMRC to investigate my finances, so I had my Italian Mafia mate pay off the snitch who was blackmailing me. Incidentally, your honour, there's nothing amiss with my family's holdings - it's all in trust for the kids. Honest!"
 
Watch him wriggle out of this. After all, he has to keep Tamara in mansions filled with £25,000 handbags. She collects them, and has them in every colour.:sick:Anyone else see the programme on her recently? Im not against people enjoying their wealth, but that was obscene.
 
Road of Bones said:
It's actually quite hard to see how he's going to wriggle out of this one - it's certainly a novel line of defence!

"I didn't want HMRC to investigate my finances, so I had my Italian Mafia mate pay off the snitch who was blackmailing me. Incidentally, your honour, there's nothing amiss with my family's holdings - it's all in trust for the kids. Honest!"
Click to expand

Which makes me wonder why he said it all in open court. Either he thinks he can wriggle out of it, or being investigated by HMRC is the least-worst option left open to him...
 
Well, tax avoidance may or may not be an offence, depending on how it is done. If the alternative is going to prison for bribery, well.
 
The way I understand it is that Bernie placed F1 commercial rights under the control of an off-shore company, Bambino holdings, which he is not the controller of... This was used to sell F1, and hold the proceeds, allowing BE to continue to live a comfortable life, but without being extravagant...

"Apparently" this trust was set up when Bernie had a health scare in the late 1990s, and wanted something for his daughters, should anything have happened to him....

At some point, someone is going to have a big pile of tax to pay though!
 
Greenlantern101 said:
Yesterday in court Bernie Eccelstone admitted to paying 27.5 million to banker Gribkowsky as blackmail money to allegedly avoid him going to the British tax authority who could of made things very expensive for Bernie in the shape of £2 Billion pounds.

Is this the beginning of the end for Bernies dictatorship in F1 ? Any other person in this position who allegedly admits to tax avoidance of 2 Billion would at the very least be forced to resign if not go to prison.

Which brings up the other point. How on earth did he get immunity from prosecution.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96047
Click to expand

Guys, I am not your lawyer but please be very careful what you say. If you are not sure what I mean, look up "defamation". Anything you say, you have to be able to prove to be true (at least in the essence). We do not qualify for public interest defence.

The facts that cannot be disputed are that Bernie paid this bloke because, Bernie says, the bloke was going to make claims to the UK tax authorities about Bambino

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...-Ecclestones-27m-payment-over-sale-of-F1.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...4/Bernie-Ecclestone-admits-worst-mistake.html

Ecclestone says those claims were a "shakedown".

The tax liability question is whether Bernie controls Bambino (in which case he would be liable for tax) or if it is controlled by Slavica and his kids (when he wouldn't and Slavica wouldn't either as a non-dom at the time when Bambino was set up in 1997).
 
Your not scared of Bernie coming after you are you Jez101 ? LOL

I was careful to use 'allegedly' several times. Innocent until proven guilty. Even tho he is immune from prosecution.
I think we are safe to chat about this, its not exactly the front page of The Times is it.
 
Careful people, read the sources properly. Bernie notes that the burden of proof in many HRMC cases is placed on the taxee. In other words, they tell you that they think you are liable for an amount in unpaid taxes and it is up to you to prove that you don't. Bernie's claim is that paying off Gribkowsky was cheaper than preparing that defence.
 
Please note that tax avoidance is perfectly legal, tax evasion is not. Tax avoidance is simply a financial strategy to minimise tax within the law.
 

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