German tennis great Boris Becker has been sentenced to two and half years in jail, for hiding his finances in order to avoid repaying loans.
On 9 April, 2022 Becker was found guilty by a British court of four charges relating to his 2017 bankruptcy at Southwark Crown Court under the Insolvency Act.
The 54-year-old German was declared guilty of removal of property, two counts of failing to disclose estate and concealing debt. He was cleared on 20 counts.
The court was told that the six-time Grand Slam champion sent almost £390,000 in payments from his business account to others.
The case centered on Becker's bankruptcy in June 2017 resulting from an unpaid loan of more than 3m on his luxury estate in Mallorca, Spain, the BBC reported on Friday.
Boom, Boom Becker as he was known during his heyday, the German burst onto the tennis circuit by sensationally winning the Wimbledon title in 1985 when he was 17 years and 228 days old.
He got into financial trouble a few years after retiring from tennis as some of the investments he made did not work out.
Becker has faced similar allegations of tax evasion in Germany also.
In October 2002, the Munich District Court sentenced him to two years in prison for tax evasion -- the execution of the sentence was suspended. In addition, he was sentenced to pay a fine of 300,000 euros and another 200,000 euros to various charitable institutions.
(With inputs from IANS)
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