process in London
Boris Becker probably wanted to settle his debts with an “expensive wedding ring”.
Boris Becker on his way to court in London
© Kirsty O’Connor / Picture Alliance
Boris Becker has to answer to a court in London for delaying bankruptcy. In order to pay off his debts, the 54-year-old apparently also wanted to sell his wedding ring.
Former tennis pro Boris Becker is said to have offered his wedding ring to his insolvency administrator to pay off his debts. At a meeting in July 2017, Becker asked his liquidator to “look around his home in Wimbledon and see what’s there,” Becker’s attorney Jonathan Laidlaw said Wednesday at Southwark Crown Court in London. Becker has been on trial there since Monday for delaying bankruptcy.
Becker offered to hand over an “expensive wedding ring” to the insolvency administrator, Laidlaw said. In the summer of 2017, Boris Becker was officially still with his second wife Lilly. The couple only announced their split in May 2018. Boris Becker has been divorced from his first wife Barbara since 2001. It is not known from which marriage the expensive ring came. The 54-year-old former tennis pro also wanted to sell his finca on Mallorca, which cost ten million euros, in order to avert his insolvency.
The multiple Wimbledon winner was interviewed by the insolvency administrator Michael Bint in July. Becker was “cooperative” during the meeting, Bint told the court. Bint also admitted that he had neglected to have Becker sign a questionnaire that was important for the investigation. He stressed that this had never happened to him since he started working for the British Insolvency Service in 2007.
Boris Becker faces up to seven years in prison
The public prosecutor accuses Becker of embezzling assets and not complying with information obligations in insolvency proceedings in his adopted home of Great Britain. He faces up to seven years in prison. A bankruptcy court in London had declared the three-time Wimbledon winner insolvent in June 2017 because of outstanding debts. At the time, his outstanding debts were estimated at up to £50 million (€59 million).
In 24 charges, Becker is now accused of having withheld several trophies in the insolvency proceedings, including the trophy for his first Wimbledon victory in 1985. He is also said to have kept real estate, shares and bank balances secret and large sums of money in his ex-wives’ accounts, among other things Barbara and Lilly Becker have transferred.
Becker rejects the allegations made against him. The process is expected to take three weeks.
During his active sports career, Becker had won 49 titles and collected prize money of more than 20 million euros. Unforgotten is his first Wimbledon victory in 1985 at the age of 17. He became the youngest singles winner of the most prestigious tournament.