Did Bernie lie?

[GitanesBlondes]

Just in, he paid $100 million to avoid jail.

http://jalopnik.com/bernie-ecclestone-u ... 1616244924

Nice bold predictions there about German justice WhiteBlue.

If anything, it shows how spineless German "justice" is.

[SectorOne]

If anything, it shows how spineless German "justice" is.

Has nothing to do with the country. He would have pulled this stunt off in any other country on this planet.

[JimClarkFan]

Kind of ironic how he gets brought to court for bribing a banker, and now the German courts have taken a bribe to not prosecute him.

Bit of a joke, the law should be the law.

[GitanesBlondes]

If anything, it shows how spineless German "justice" is.

Has nothing to do with the country. He would have pulled this stunt off in any other country on this planet.

Read the article and you'll see mention that there is a proviso that allows any defendant to pay a sum to end a trial when certain conditions are met. You can't pull that off in any other country if such a proviso does not exist.

[Kiril Varbanov]

That's an interesting twist of fate. Or it's not.

As usual, there are two sides of the coin. On one of the sides is Bernie's ability to maintain the status quo, the peace in F1 and the relationship between team bosses. Some say that the current level of competitiveness is down to his ability to play games. And that we owe everything that's good in F1 to Bernie. He's very approachable person, indeed. Anyone can schedule a meeting with him, as long as you talk sense, business or money. Some say that F1 wouldn't exist without him. My personal opinion doesn't reflect such views. People come and go. "The graveyards are full of indispensable men", Charles de Gaulle had said.

The other side of the coin is that this is, in simple terms, a crime. I'm certainly not a lawyer, but paying a bribe to bail out from a bribe trial is lack of dignity. And a pure disgrace mark on the sport's face. Based on that, my personal opinion (not my employers), as a fan, is that Bernie should go as soon as possible.

While I understand 100 million would be much more usable than an old man in a jail, this is promotion of bad standards. And this isn't against Germany's law system - no law system is perfect.

Today, it would seem that most prominent F1 figures revolve around this axis - that the move is pathetic.

[Phil]

From what I read, it's simply down to what is refered to as a "settlement". A settlement makes sense in a case where it could go either way and both are happy to settle out of court (and spare the costs), because the verdict could be a toss up - either being very costly for the defendant or the prosecutor. In the end, I guess it's not all that surprising.

On one hand, people will argue that Bernie has done this to get away from a guilty verdict (essentially 'bribed' himself out of a trial), but on the other hand, I guess one could also say "innocent until proven guilty". Sadly, in all things law and justice related - it not always can be factually proven. And even if it's "guilty beyond a reasonable doubt", it doesn't quite negate the possibility (no matter how miniscule the chance) that it might not be the proper verdict.

100 million is quite a sum though. I thought he had originally planned to 'settle' for something around a third that amount. I also wonder how and if Bernie will continue after this. I'm sure he's happy to play and go on as if nothing ever happened, but will the rest?

[Just_a_fan]

What they have ended up with is a "Schrödinger verdict" - he's neither guilty nor innocent. We just needed someone to open the box but the German legal system didn't want to go that far...

[xpensive]

I suspect that DrZ paid the 100 MUSD, just to make sure that Daimler won't get involved in a corruption scandal.

What do you think marcush, is that plausible?

[mep]

Bernie settles the case with some money.
Hmm, well fair enough. I don’t really have a problem with that, even when it is questionable because it throws a bad light on the German court. On the other side it was at least investigated and one of the guys sits in jail for a while. I wonder why there is no court case for tax evasion in the UK.
However, I have the feeling that he got away way to cheap. He should have paid at least twice that sum or even more.

[jz11]

selling indulgences 21st century style...

also having to pay to a state 100M isn't exactly - got away cheap, even if your net worth is 40 times that or so

[SiLo]

But I wanted him to go to jail... I feel if he goes, a lot may be able to change for the good of F1. Yes he's done a lot for the sport (whilst pocketing a fair bit along the way) but now he needs to do one and get someone fresh up there.

[hollus]

selling indulgences 21st century style...

also having to pay to a state 100M isn't exactly - got away cheap, even if your net worth is 40 times that or so

How much profit has he gotten out of his initial 50M bribe 9 years ago? A wild guess is more than 150M.

[GitanesBlondes]

selling indulgences 21st century style...

also having to pay to a state 100M isn't exactly - got away cheap, even if your net worth is 40 times that or so

What it tells you is that it's a calculated decision where he has already figured out far more money still exists to be made off of the commercial rights. He has something else planned in my opinion, which is why he was willing to dole out $100 million like it was pocket change.

If the reports are true about him wanting the commercial rights back from CVC, then my guess is that he has an even bigger golden goose lined up. I can't help but think back to the Singapore IPO that never happened a few years back as an indication of what he is after.

[jz11]

what I mean by it not being really cheap is net worth doesn't translate to cash that easily, and the bad press, because buy going this way he basically admitted - yes, I'm guilty...

[turbof1]

That's an interesting twist of fate. Or it's not.

As usual, there are two sides of the coin. On one of the sides is Bernie's ability to maintain the status quo, the peace in F1 and the relationship between team bosses. Some say that the current level of competitiveness is down to his ability to play games. And that we owe everything that's good in F1 to Bernie. He's very approachable person, indeed. Anyone can schedule a meeting with him, as long as you talk sense, business or money. Some say that F1 wouldn't exist without him. My personal opinion doesn't reflect such views. People come and go. "The graveyards are full of indispensable men", Charles de Gaulle had said.

The other side of the coin is that this is, in simple terms, a crime. I'm certainly not a lawyer, but paying a bribe to bail out from a bribe trial is lack of dignity. And a pure disgrace mark on the sport's face. Based on that, my personal opinion (not my employers), as a fan, is that Bernie should go as soon as possible.

While I understand 100 million would be much more usable than an old man in a jail, this is promotion of bad standards. And this isn't against Germany's law system - no law system is perfect.

Today, it would seem that most prominent F1 figures revolve around this axis - that the move is pathetic.

To make it more laughable: of the 100 million, 99 million goes to the Bavarian treasury, and only 1 million to charity. Only 1% goes to something good; the other 99% probably goes to either delving financial debts or redacorating the city centre or other kinds of wasting money. The trial costs what a couple of millions at most? Pay that off, keep 60-70% for the treasury and invest in charity with a bigger heart that isn't only 1/100 good.

I'd like to call this 1% justice.