Bernie Ecclestone’s legal troubles are not yet over.
Before he ended his corruption trial in Munich by agreeing to pay $100 million to the Bavarian state, it emerged that the ‘F1 supremo’ was also willing to compensate the state-controlled bank BayernLB to the tune of EUR 25 million. It was reported that the compensation offer to the bank, a former shareholder of F1’s commercial rights, was valid only until last Friday.
One of Ecclestone’s lawyers said at the time that the EUR 25 million offer was not an admission of guilt, nor compensation for any alleged damage done to BayernLB through the disputed $44 million payment to jailed Gerhard Gribkowsky.
But as the deadline expired, the German news agency DPA reported that BayernLB had rejected the offer. It is believed BayernLB turned it down on the basis that it paid Ecclestone a consultation fee of no less than $41 million after the rights sale. And earlier, the bank was seeking a whopping $400 million in damages due to Ecclestone and Gribkowsky’s alleged undervaluing of the shares.
A spokesman for BayernLB confirmed DPA’s report about the rejection of the offer.
