Tennis Great Boris Becker Breaks British Bankruptcy Laws and Ends Up in Jail

Boris Becker has fallen, and notonthegrass at Wimbledon.  The Code Violation he is facing is much more serious than a point penalty for bad behavior. Becker broke the the English Bankruptcy Laws and now faces jailtime.

Boris Becker was one of Tennis’ Great Champions having won 6 majors in the 1980s and 1990’s. He also won 13 Masters Series Titles ,an Olympic gold medal in doubles among many other titles and achievements. He later went onto coach Novak Djkovic for 3 years. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Becker

Sadly, those achievements will not help him now.  A native of Germany, Becker was recentlys entenced to a two-year sentencein a London jail for concealing debt, removal of property, and fraud. Becker had previously filed for Bankruptcy in June 2017 in England. However, at the time of his bankruptcy filing Becker was dishonest and failed to disclose almost one half million dollars in a bank account. He later transferred these funds several times in an attempt to conceal them as well as a German property and 75000 shares of stock.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/29/tennis/boris-becker-jail-sentence-bankruptcy-spt-int/index.html

Bankruptcy in England as in America requires honesty, transparency and cooperation. You must properly disclose your assets and turn over property that is required by the Courts. The system relies on the participants filing of papers that are accurate and truthful.  Failure to do so results in severe penalties including criminal prosecution which can result in jail time as in Becker’s case.

This case can be very useful to understanding American Bankruptcy law. What happened to Boris Becker can unfortunately happen to anyone who tries to lie or cheat the system. In Becker’s case it involved monies, properties and stock that were supposed to be turned over to the Court. This could easily have been the situation here in America in a typical bankruptcy case where there are Business interests or assets.

In America, there are many reported cases of bankruptcy fraud and crimes. The difference in Becker’s case is that he was a famous person who everyone will recognize his name. Other persons who commit bankruptcy crimes are unknown persons other than their new notoriety for their criminal conduct.

The bottom line is if you cooperate and are honest, you should have nothing to worry about. If you try to cheat the system or cover-up wrong-doing this is where serious problems start.

If you are experiencing financial hardships and solvency issues, do not let this pressure you in to making poor decisions. This could lead to significant legal liability.  Instead contact the bankruptcy and tax experts at the Law Offices of Daniel M. Silvershein to answer your questions or for a free consultation. Please contact the office at (212)-387-7880 or via email at daniel@dmsilverlaw.com.