Former tennis star released from UK jail – awaiting extradition

EFE – London – Controversial German tennis player Boris Becker has been released from a British prison where he was serving time for financial crimes with a view to deportation, Britain’s PA news agency reported on Thursday, without specifying the fate of the former world number one.

Becker, 55, the winner of six Grand Slam titles, who had lived in the United Kingdom since 2012, was convicted in April of illegally concealing or transferring hundreds of thousands of euros and pounds to avoid paying his debts after declaring bankruptcy. 

The former German tennis star, whose professional career lasted between 1984 and 1999, was sentenced on April 29 to two and a half years in prison by the British court after being found guilty especially of having concealed 2.5 million pounds (3 million dollars) to avoid paying their debts.

In principle, he had to serve half of his sentence in prison, before being able to benefit from a conditional release. Now however it seems that he will be expelled to Germany.

After filing for bankruptcy in 2017, Becker was convicted of charges including theft of assets, non-disclosure of assets, and concealment of debt.

During the proceedings, the prosecution claimed that Becker collected 1.13 million euros ($1.22 million) from the sale of a Mercedes car dealership he owned in Germany, which he paid into a professional bank account he used as his ” personal piggy bank” with which to pay for luxury purchases and school fees for his children.

“The conviction of Boris Becker clearly shows that the concealment of assets in the framework of a bankruptcy is a serious offense, for which we prosecute those who commit it,” stressed the director general of the Insolvency Service, the British government agency in charge of administering bankruptcies.