Boris Becker, the former Wimbledon champion, has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for concealing £2.5 million in assets and loans in order to avoid paying debts.
Under the Insolvency Act, the 54-year-old six time Grand Slam champion was found guilty on four offences.
Becker declared bankruptcy in June 2017 as a result of an unpaid loan of more than £3 million on his luxury Mallorca villa.
He had showed no sorrow or acceptance of guilt, according to Judge Deborah Taylor.
“You did not heed the warning you were given and the chance you were given by the suspended sentence, and that is a substantial aggravating circumstance,” she said, referring to BEcker’s earlier conviction for tax evasion in Germany in 2002.
“While I accept your humiliation as a necessary part of the process, you have shown no humility.”
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Becker was required by law to disclose all of his assets in order for his trustee to disburse available monies to his creditors, who owed him about £50 million when he was declared bankrupt.
Southwark Crown Court jury convicted Becker guilty of removal of property, two charges of failing to disclose estate, and concealing debt earlier this month, after hearing evidence for roughly two weeks.
They acquitted him on nine counts of neglecting to hand over his tennis trophies and medals, including two from Wimbledon.
The jury found the Wimbledon broadcaster had acted “deliberately and dishonestly,” according to prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley.
“Even now, Mr Becker is still blaming others although it was clearly his obligation,” she contnnued.
Becker had neglected to register his share in a huge £1 million mansion in his German hometown of Leimen, as well as a bank loan of over £700,000 on the property, as well as shares in a technological firm worth £66,000, according to the jury.\
He was also discovered to have transferred payments totaling £390,000 from his business account to nine other people, including his ex wife Barbara and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, Becker’s counsel, told the court that the tennis star’s ”
“fall from grace” had left “his reputation in tatters”.” “Boris Becker has literally nothing to show for what was the most sparkling of sporting careers, and that is appropriately described as nothing short of a tragedy,” he remarked.
These proceedings have effectively ended his career and obliterated all chance of earning money in the future.”
Becker will serve the first half of his sentence on probation.
