Photo: Chris Cole / Getty Images
Tennis player Boris Becker, three-time Wimbledon champion, was sentenced to two and a half years in jail this Friday by a British court for hiding assets and loans worth more than US$3 million to avoid paying his debts.
Becker, of 54 years, was found guilty of four charges based on the Law Bankruptcy Office.
The case centered on the bankruptcy that Becker declared in June, 2017 as a result of a non-payment loan of more than US$3.7 million for your luxury residence on the island of Mallorca, in Spain.
Judge Deborah Taylor said that the former German tennis player and former world number one had shown neither remorse nor acceptance of guilt.
Referring to the sentence of two years of p suspended sentence that Becker received in Germany in 2017 for tax evasion, the judge assured: “ He did not pay attention to the warning that he was given and the opportunity that the suspension of the sentence gave him and that is an important aggravating factor…”.
“You have sought to distance yourself from your offense and your bankruptcy. Although I accept their humiliation as part of the process, there has been no humility”.
Guilty on four counts
Earlier this month, a jury found guilty Becker of property theft, two counts of non-disclosure of his assets and concealment of debt.
He was acquitted of others 20 charges, including nine for failing to deliver his tennis trophies and medals.
Becker -winner of six Grand Slam tournaments- will have to spend half of his sentence of 30 months, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.
His attorney, Jonathan Laidlaw, told the court that the tennis star’s “fall from grace” had left “his reputation in tatters”.
“Boris Becker has literally nothing and nothing to show for what was a brilliant sports career and that is a tragedy”.
“This process has completely destroyed his career and ruined any future prospects of earning an income.”
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