Bernie Ecclestone – the former supremo of Formula 1 – has pleaded guilty to fraud at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday but has been spared jail. The 92-year-old failed to declare more than £400 million of overseas assets to the government, namely a trust in Singapore with a bank account of around $650 million. He was sentenced to 17 months in jail, suspended for two years. He has agreed a civil settlement of £652,634,836 in respect of sums due to HMRC over the course of 18 years. The billionaire, who has courted controversy throughout his life, was in charge of F1 for over 40 years before relinquishing his role in 2017 when current owners Liberty Media took over the running of the sport. The Independent takes a look at Ecclestone’s life and times through his tenure in motorsport and beyond: 1930 – Ecclestone born on 28 October, son of Sidney and Bertha Sophia, in St Peter, Suffolk. 1952– Marries first wife, Ivy Bamford, at 21-years-old. They have a daughter, Deborah, born in 1955. The pair divorce in the 1960s. 1958 – Entered two F1 races as a driver, at Monaco and Silverstone, after purchasing two chassis from the disbanded Connaught Formula One team. Failed to qualify for either race. 1972 – Buys Brabham F1 team for £100,000. Tastes success with Nelson Piquet’s two world titles in 1981 and 1983, though only records a best result of second in the constructors’ championship. 1974 – Forms the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA). Played crucial role in negotiating F1’s television rights. Becomes chief executive in 1978. 1984 – Slavica Radic, later his second wife, becomes pregnant and second daughter Tamara is born. Marries Radic in 1985. 1988 – Sells Brabham for more than $5 million to Swiss businessman Joachim Luhti. 1988 – Ecclestone’s third daughter, Petra, is born in London. 1997 – Embroiled in a dispute with the Labour Party over tobacco sponsorship of Formula 1, in contrary to the new government’s health position. After a meeting with prime minister Tony Blair alongside Max Mosley (a fellow Labour Party donor), the government make an exemption for F1. 2005 – Farce embroils the United States Grand Prix, with seven teams refusing to participate due to safety concerns over the Michelin tyres used. No compromise was reached, and only six cars (using Bridgestone tyres) started the race. 2008 – Radic files for divorce, which is settled in March 2009. She receives a reported settlement of $1 billion. 2009 – Crashgate. F1 descends into chaos after cheating scandal which saw Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crash a year earlier in Singapore to aid his team-mate, race winner Fernando Alonso. It later emerges, in 2023, that Ecclestone and then-FIA boss Mosley knew about the scandal at the time. Felipe Massa is now in the process of pursuing legal action for damages, having lost the 2008 world title to Lewis Hamilton. 2009 – Ecclestone widely condemned after remarks that were positive about Adolf Hitler. He said to The Times: “Terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was – in the way that he could command a lot of people – able to get things done”. Ecclestone later apologised for his comments. 2012 – Marries vice-president of marketing for the Brazilian Grand Prix Fabiana Flosi, 46 years his junior. 2014 – Paid a £60 million settlement to end a bribery trial in Germany without admitting guilt. Prosecutors had accused him of bribery of banker Gerhard Gribkowsky. 2017 – Removed from position as CEO of Formula One Group after its £6.4 billion takeover by Liberty Media. Retains title of Chairman Emeritus until January 2020. 2020 – Ecclestone has first son, Ace (Alexander Charles Ecclestone), at age 89. 2020 – Criticised by F1 and Lewis Hamilton after comments made in wake of the murder of George Floyd. Ecclestone says to CNN: “In a lot of cases, black people are more racist than what white people are.” 2022 – Arrested by Brazilian authorities for illegally carrying a firearm while boarding a private plane to Switzerland. Ecclestone paid bail and was freed to travel to Switzerland. 2022 – Ecclestone says on Good Morning Britain that he would “take a bullet” for Russia president Vladimir Putin because he was a “first class person,” adding that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was just a “mistake” that businessman make. He later apologised for his comments. 2023 – Pleaded guilty to £400m fraud. Sentenced to 17 months in prison, suspended for two years. Read More Lewis Hamilton gives blunt response to Felipe Massa’s legal action over 2008 F1 title F1 given new deadline by Felipe Massa’s lawyers – who label Lewis Hamilton title a ‘sham’ ‘More teams, less races’: FIA boss outlines aspirations for future of F1 F1 reveal unique Las Vegas GP schedule and ‘opening ceremony’ plans Lance Stroll ‘may have contravened FIA rules’ during furious outburst in Qatar

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A pair of top Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are asking Chairman James Comer to look into whether the accused foreign agent who claims to be a “whistleblower” against President Joe Biden and his son was acting to further Chinese interests when he accused the Bidens of crimes. In a letter to Mr Comer, Ranking Member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Representative Daniel Goldman of New York expressed “concern” that the Oversight Committee “has been manipulated” by alleged arms dealer Gal Luft, who they described as “an apparent con man who, while a fugitive from justice, attempted to fortify his defense by laundering unfounded and potentially false allegations through Congres”. The alleged GOP whistleblower, an Israeli-American think tank founder, was indicted last November on charges that he allegedly trafficked arms, acted as a foreign agent for China and violated US sanctions on Iran. Mr Luft, who was arrested in February by Cypriot authorities, jumped bail while awaiting extradition to the US and has been on the run ever since. While he claims he is being persecuted by the federal government because he provided derogatory information about the Biden family to the FBI in a 2019 interview, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement that he “engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes”. “He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement,” Mr Williams said. Mr Raskin and Mr Goldman noted that the false statement charges against Mr Luft “eviscerate” his credibility, even as Mr Comer has continued to call him “a very credible witness” despite the fact that Mr Luft remains a fugitive from justice. They also pointed out that Mr Luft is alleged to have lied to FBI agents during the same March 2019 interview at which he claims to have provided information to the bureau about Hunter Biden, and suggested that Mr Luft’s claims against the president and his son may be part of a Chinese-backed effort to undermine US interests and Mr Biden’s presidency. “It appears as if Mr. Luft sought ‘whistleblower’ status from you in an effort to defend himself from criminal prosecution while a fugitive from justice. Worse yet, this latest episode also raises concerns that Mr. Luft may be manipulating your investigation not only for his own self-interest but perhaps also in furtherance of the CCP’s efforts to undermine U.S. security interests and the President of the United States,” they said. “These recent revelations naturally raise broader concerns about the credibility and motivations of other purported whistleblowers that Congressional Republicans have relied on to support unfounded and baseless allegations. Sadly, the Luft episode severely undermines the credibility of the critical function of whistleblowers in this body”. The Democratic representatives called on Mr Comer to stop withholding documents relating to Mr Luft from members of the minority on the committee, and asked him to initiate an investigation into whether his panel has been manipulated by Mr Luft in service of a foreign power. “In order to protect the Congress’s institutional credibility and to reassure the American people that the CCP is not using Republicans’ investigations as a vehicle to undermine the United States government, we urge you to immediately initiate an investigation into whether the Committee may have been unwittingly duped by Mr. Luft in furtherance of the CCP’s interests, as well as any potentially false statements made by Mr. Luft to Members of Congress or congressional staff,” they said. Read More He claimed to have dirt on the Bidens. Now the DoJ say he’s a Chinese spy. Who is Gal Luft? GOP cries foul over spy charges for Biden ‘whistleblower’ ‘Whistleblower’ who accused Bidens of corruption is charged with arms trafficking and violating Iran sanctions DC promises a 'very, very robust' police presence to maintain public safety over July 4 holiday GOP had evidence disproving Biden bribery claims in 2019, top Democrat says Finland's new finance minister apologizes for racist comments in 2008 blog post

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