Boris Becker has been sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of ‘bankruptcy offences’ – here’s his case explained.
Yesterday, Friday April 29, Becker was sentenced after he was found guilty of four offences relating to his bankruptcy, including failing to disclose, concealing and removing significant assets.
Who is Boris Becker?
The 54-year-old is a German former world No. 1 tennis player. He was successful from the start of his career, winning the first of his six Grand Slam singles titles at age 17. His Grand Slam singles titles comprise three Wimbledon Championships, two Australian Opens and one US Open.
Becker retired from the sport in 1999 he didn’t settle into a quiet life – he went on to publish an autobiography, launched his own online media platform called Boris Becker TV, commentated on Wimbledon for the BBC and even coached the tennis champion Novak Djokovic.
What went wrong?
In 2017 Becker was made bankrupt after owing creditors almost £50 million, over an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.
This meant he was legally obliged to disclose all of his assets so that his trustee could distribute available funds to his creditors. However, Becker failed to disclose, concealed and removed significant assets from the Official Receiver and his Trustee in Bankruptcy.
And the assets concealed included €426,930.90 – which was transferred to several third parties, a property in Leiman, Germany, and 75,000 shares in Breaking Data Corp.
Convicted for Bankruptcy offences
Ultimately, Becker was taken to court earlier this month and found guilty of ‘bankruptcy offences’ and was convicted of four counts against the Insolvency Act 1986.
The charges Becker was convicted on included:
- Removing property totalling close to €427,000 from his bankruptcy estate (count 4)
- Failed to disclose ownership of a property in Leiman in Germany (count 10)
- Concealed a loan of €825,000 from the Bank of Alpinum of Lichtenstein (count 13)
- Ownership of 75,000 shares in Breaking Data Corp (count 14)
Becker was then sentenced to two years and six months in prison, for count 4, and also sentenced to 18 months, to be served concurrently, on counts 10, 13 and 14 on the indictment.
Now, Becker actually still remains bankrupt and his 12-year Bankruptcy Restrictions Undertaking remains the subject of public record on the Individual Insolvency Register.
