Bernie is getting into trouble...

The Gribkowsky trial (in case you missed it, read below) has taken a sudden change: He admitted that Ecclestone bribed him with 50 Million to make the F1 sale more, ehm, comfortable for Bernie. That cost the BayernLB a lot of money and, after the bank needed to be propped up by the taxpayer due to other shortcomings, the state is now going after everyone who could possibly owe money to the bank. Read: Bernie.
The Munich court and state attorney are well outside the F1 power sphere in which he had the possibility to keep harm away from him, now he may be in serious trouble...




Cliff notes on the trial:
The now deceased media mogul Leo Kirch owned the F1 shares. When he went bankrupt, the shares went to the Bayerische Landesbank (Bavarian state bank, short BayernLB), who had no business in F1 and wanted to get rid of it. Their board member Gerhard Gribkowsky got the task to arrange a sale, and apparently Bernie bribed him with a boatload of money to make that sale favourable for him and less favourable for the bank.

 

Yes I have read about this, am sure Bernie will somehow come out of it unscathed.

Ecclestone has admitted making payments to Gribkowsky, but said that Gribkowsky was “shaking him down”....whatever that means..

 

Posted the other day at Autosport;

I reckon Bernie's in the clear - As always!....... Unless the German version of the Feds is also pissed? Florian, do you think they'll come after him?

Cheers,
Ian

 

Bernies in the clear, have we not learned he is the teflon Don. His remarks about it already show what a pro he is.

 

The BayernLB is a very political matter. To fully understand there's a bit of background needed: The state banks are, as the name says, owned by the state and traditionally have the tasks to a) take care of the state's banking needs b) support the local businesses.

The BayernLB however got involved into the 2008 crisis with speculations and dubious takeovers. The state had to pump several billion into it to keep it alive. Now the state attorneys, backed by the justice and finance minstries, are hunting everyone down who cost the bank any money (that is, everyone who isn't member of Bavaria's almighty CSU party).

Bernie may already have the crosshairs on him, even if it's just to make a point, maybe even as a trophy for those involved in law and government...


Edit: As the state and the CSU party are essentially identical in Bavaria, the BayernLB disaster of course had a nasty backlash on the CSU as the supervisory jobs at the bank were mostly occupied by party members. The government tries to make up for that by playing hardball.

 

There is a good article on Pitpass about this subject. Evidently Bernie paid these sums outside of Germany and the UK. He does not face any charges. He has been quite upfront with this and the legal analysis is such that he does not appear to be in jeopardy....yet.

 

Legally for now Bernie may be in the clear, however it remains to be seen how sponsors and car makers will react to being involved in this "business" ...Especially if Germany wants to go after the Money... thru the European union.... all this propping up Greece, Spain, Italy etc... I would think that the govt may not like that.... who knows.

 

http://pitpass.com/46588-Ecclestone-says-he-may-sue-Gribkowsky

 

"behind every great fortune is (at least one) crime"
Balzac.

 

From Autosport;

Seems the Pygmy slides away yet again......

Cheers,
Ian

 

the banker who reportedly received funds from Bernie has been sentenced to jail by a Munich court. they have stated Bernie to be an accomplice, not a victim as he claims.

at the end of the day, Bernie will come out smelling like roses!

http://www.worldcarfans.com/112062745800/banker-sentenced-to-jail-for-f1-bribery---ecclestone-likely

 

"The law, like the Hotel Ritz, is open to all".

 

Not so sure. The state attorney AND Gribkowsky's guys are considering suing Bernie.

 

If they do try and sue Bernie, I wonder how much they will end up paying him?

 

When you go up against the king it's important to know that you can kill the king.

 

Inquiries at home and here in Germany.....


http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/82942.html

 

Ha - the SFO's track record is certainly not one to be proud of. Numerous high profile cases dropped after wasting a shed load of OUR money investigating them.

 

Is any of this a jailable offense? I have no idea but if it isn't there is absolutely nothing they can ever do to him that he would even notice. He is 100 years old and has all the money he could ever EVER possibly need.

 

I think Bernie disagrees.....

 

You are right, but still..

 

As Sen. Zell Miller once said about guns
"I've got more than I need but fewer than I want".

 

News as of today: The Munich state attorney office is preparing to bring a charge against Ecclestone.

 

Should make for an uncomfortable weekend.

 

Will be interesting to see what the charge is.

 

BCE never goes to Hockenheim anyway...