Munich court accepts bribery case against Ecclestone, trial to start in April

Source in German:
Formel 1: Bernie Ecclestone kommt vor Gericht - Wirtschaft - Süddeutsche.de

The Munich court has accepted the bribery case against Ecclestone, who is accused of paying former Bayerische Landesbank manager Gerhard Gribkowsky 44 million.
BayernLB owned the F1 rights back in the day and wanted to cut Bernie's influence. Later they sold the rights, supposedly under value, the state-owned bank took a loss, and Bernie was at the helm again.

Trial will start in April.

 

If it does come down to sentencing, I really hope he'll pull a 'crazy billionaire'' stunt, such as escaping in a submarine, shouting ''you'll never catch me!!!'' as the sub goes down, narrowly closing the hatch before it goes underwater.

Then still control F1 from underwater.

 

And in apparently other and unrelated news:

Bernie considers buying the Nuerburgring to save it from bankruptcy.



What a clever little man he is. Or is it just coincidence that he is saving Germany's Motorsport Walhalla while going in front of a German judge?

 

Ecclestone stands down from F1 board, but remains involved with day to day operations:

Ecclestone stands down from F1 board | joeblogsf1

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FEiOjH0v0oM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DFEiOjH0v0oM

 

I'm not sure what to make of all this. I dont think you will have many in F-1 calling for him to leave - yet... but at some point - busienss is going to get embarrased if all the stuff he does starts coming out....

so just imagine all the skeletons Bernie has and all the bodies he knows where they are buried... he made a lot of people Millionaires ... and he can take them down. One thing for sure they will not get his money... so he will retain power of some sort even if they take him out of F-1 all together.

I cant see who else will fill in Bernies shoes as the puppet master....Marco Picchini? I think the real show down will be between CVC and the FIA on who controlls what. Ferrari will be involved - and perhaps that is why they are talking about an LMP-1 car... Mr. Ferrari's old ploy - if you dont do as I want - I'll leave and race elsewhere.... go ahead and try me....

The sad thing is that all this scrutiny will show up all the dirty flaws in current F-1... where there is money - there is dirt.. and there will be ALOT OF DIRT HERE!

IF Bernie goes down... he's not going alone. the worse it gets- the more suicide watch F-1 needs to be on - I'm serious here!

 

+1

So he's 'stepped down from the board', but is still running the show!? Guess he'll just tell the remaining guys 'sign here'.

+1

It could get to be way more interesting than the racing though!..... We've already learnt he paid EJ (and Walkinshaw, maybe others, I don't recall now) $10MM 'off the books' to sign a new Concorde back in the day.

Fer sure, he knows the locations of many, many, skeletons. That are probably best left buried.

OTOH, I, and a few others, have postulated that our dear German legal friends are gonna wind up with egg everywhere, out millions in court costs and asking themselves 'WTF just happened?!'....... Never, ever, underestimate Bernie.....

Cheers,
Ian

 

Little more of a sensationalist headline here:

King Of F1 Bernie Ecclestone Steps Down Over $45 Mill Bribery Trial

 

+1

 

When I heard on the radio that the German authorities were going ahead with taking Bernie to trial, My mind converted the headline into: "Germany decides it no longer wants a Grand Prix!".

 

You only read half the headlines then:

Bernie is now talking about SAVING the Nuerburgring.

http://www.speedweek.com/formel1/news/50433/Nuerburgring-Rettung-durch-Bernie-Ecclestone.html


It's like a legalized bribe to the court.

 

Note that he is offering to save the Nürburgring, which is in the state of Rhineland-Palatine, but his trial is in the state of Bavaria.

The Nürburgring debacle was caused by the left-wing SPD government of RP, which the conservative Bavarian CSU government has happily been rubbing into the SPD faces for years now.
As I've said before, one must never underestimate the influence of politics on the Bavarian justice system. The best Bernie can hope for is that the Munich judge ignores his Nürburgring offer and doesn't rate it as an amateur attempt at bribery.

 

Bernie make look and sound like a amateur fool, but rest assured he is anything but.

My guess, he will have all the angles covered.

 

I see it more along the lines of someone being in your face making verbal threats and so you grab them by the balls and give them a slight squeeze whilst saying: "Are you sure you really want to do this?"

 

Perhaps, but he's playing in a much more sophisticated arena than F1 where the numbers are huge but the players (for the most part) bush league.

 

Wow, Rheinland-Pfalz can be translated into Palatine?
I never knew.

I hear you on the politics of SPD vs CSU and I believe you. Bayern remains a strange place. It's the Texas of Germany.

 

Actually, it's Rhineland-Palatinate. My bad!

That's really a good comparison! Think of a Texas judge whom the culprit wants to 'bribe' by saving a project that has caused the Democrat Massachusetts government a lot of headaches. Wouldn't work, I suppose.

 

Anyone who underestimates Bernie does so at their own peril!

And TBH, I honestly don't think he really cares what happens to him!

If he's found Not Guilty then life goes on as usual (and Germany will lose it's GP! )

If he's found Guilty and sent to prison, then he'll just do his time (and probably sort out the running of the prison at the same time!), write his life story (scaring the s:censored:t out of many! ), and should he not die in prison, then he'll come out and enjoy the rest of his life and his many Millions whilst pointing out what a mess F1 has got itself into without him.

As I see it, he would simply see prison as just another one of life's experiences! - Just another chapter to write!

And here's something to think about, if you were in charge of running a German prison, would you really want Bernie Ecclestone as one of your inmates? - I bet all of the German Prison Governor's are praying: "Please find him Not Guilty!............Please find him Not Guilty!".

I suspect he would make a Prison Governor's life a complete nightmare!

 

I love that scenario.

It's the commonly accepted wisdom that Bernie is an evil genius but I see him as a clever trader who stepped into an unbelievable opportunity. It helped that the rest of the players were much more adept at racing than business (What smart businessman would look to make money racing?) and were willing to let him have his head.
The deal that made him and the rest of F1 was the sweetheart TV deal with the FIA. Once that was done it didn't take a genius to make money.

 

The genius part is the ability to remain in charge of it all, even when you've sold it off a number of times!


The concern I have is as to whether Bernie will get a fair trial in Germany!

According to: Ecclestone facing ten years in German prison | News | Motorsport.com


Banker Gerhard Gribkowsky has already been jailed for eight and a half years for accepting Ecclestone's bribe, but according to the judge in that case, the F1 supremo's alleged acts were worse.

Indeed, that judge - Peter Noll - will also preside over the Ecclestone case, and in the Gribkowsky trial he claimed the "driving force" of the corruption "was Mr Ecclestone".

That sounds to Me like the judge has already decided the outcome of the trial before the case has even come to court!

 

I think that Bernie will do jail time, especially given the fact that the judge has already concluded he is guilty. However, as you stated earlier, he will treat it as a "life experience" and come out smelling like a rose on the other side.

One thing about Bernie; hate him or loathe him, F1 wouldn't be nearly the success it is today without him. All major sports need a shepherd to lead them to the big time, and Bernie did that for F1. He's definitely more "New York hustler" than financial genius, but street-wise can take you a long way in the business world.

 

Its tough to get fired when you make people rich.

 

Yes, exactly that!

Never underestimate Sir Bernie. I join the chorus saying he'll either skate, or sit in prison and gloat over the primordial soup that F1 inevitably becomes until another Dark Lord comes out on top.

 

Surely that's illegal?