Bernie in court again.

[sportsman]

Bernie being sued again.Full report is worth reading

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...ed-by-American-firm-in-408-million-claim.html
F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to be sued by American firm in £408 million claim

Pressure continues to build on Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone with an American private equity firm the latest company to instigate legal action off the back of ongoing bribery allegations in Germany

Bluewaters Communications Holdings has filed a $650million (£408million) lawsuit at the Supreme Court of New York State, arguing that it lost that amount after Ecclestone paid a $44million (£27.6million) bribe to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky in 2006 to ensure that BayernLB’s stake in Formula One was sold to present owners CVC Capital Partners.
Bluewaters says it should have been sold the stake as it had offered “10 per cent above any genuine bona fide offer put forward by any other competing buyer”.
The action is against Ecclestone, CVC Capital Partners, Ecclestone-run companies Alpha Prema, Alpha Topco and Delta Topco, Gribkowsky, and Bayerische Landesbank.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Even if he loses he will just move his money to North Korea and stick two fingers up at the courts.

 

[siffert_fan]

Isn't it interesting that someone can be sent to prison for 8+ years for accepting a bribe which was apparently offered by nobody!

 

[Mephistopheles]

Why would anyone pay someone 44 million to stop them making FALSE allegations? If they are false then he would have nothing to worry about would he?..

 

[gethinceri]

I think they should all leave him alone, poor love. He's an old man and his wife left him.

 

[Bill Boddy]

I think they should all leave him alone, poor love. He's an old man and his wife left him taking a big chunk of his money with her. She also left their expensive daughter with him.

Was this what you meant?

 

[GeoffP]

How bizarre - so Bernie confesses to making a bribe, a payment which, at the very least, was made with the intention of evading local revenue taxation, and still we have a company out there making such bad decisions that they see an upside in not being allowed to purchase stock in a private equity firm...

My knowledge of the legislation is far from complete, but what makes them think they could force the sale? My understanding of private equity is that any holding must first be offered to the existing investors, and if they decline to make a fair offer then the holding can then be taken to the public market.

Doesn't that mean that Bluewaters could not even have made a legitimate offer until CVC had declined to make a fair offer?

So therefore it seems as if they have buggered up their asset value and are looking for a scapegoat to take responsibility for their own incompetence - standard scumbag investors then...

So, Germany, seems it's a non-Bernie zone, if I were him I'd try to invent reasons to spend more time outside the EU

 

[Fenderman]

As a material witness, Bernie was granted immunity from prosecution in Germany early on in the proceedings against Gribkowski. That of course does not prevent him from being sued in civil courts there. What will be of more interest is the still awaited outcome of investigations in the UK.