Ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has pleaded guilty to fraud over a failure to declare £400m held in a trust in Singapore to the government.
Ecclestone, who turns 93 later this month, was due to face trial at Southwark Crown Court in November after previously denying the charge.
The billionaire appeared at the same court today wearing a dark grey suit, supported by his third wife, Fabiana Flosi, to plead guilty to a single count of fraud on 7 July 2015.
The court has previously heard he failed to declare a trust in Singapore with a bank account containing around 650 million US dollars, worth about £400 million at the time.
Ecclestone was charged following an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) into his finances.
Prosecutors said Ecclestone made untrue or misleading representations to HMRC at a July 2015 meeting, when he said he “established only a single trust” in favour of his daughters Deborah, Tamara and Petra.
The court heard Ecclestone answered “no” when asked by HMRC officers whether he had any links to further trusts “in or outside the UK”.
Prosecutor Richard Wright KC said: “That answer was untrue or misleading. Mr Ecclestone knew his answer may have been untrue or misleading.
“As of 7 July 2015, Mr Ecclestone did not know the truth of the position, so was not able to give an answer to the question.
“Mr Ecclestone was not entirely clear on how ownership of the accounts in question were structured.
“He therefore did not know whether it was liable for tax, interest or penalties in relation to amounts passing through the accounts.
“Mr Ecclestone recognises it was wrong to answer the questions he did because it ran the risk that HMRC would not continue to investigate his affairs.
“He now accepts that some tax is due in relation to these matters.”
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