Bankrupt Becker denies failing to declare Guernsey account
MULTIPLE tennis grand slam winner Boris Becker has denied that he purposely failed to disclose a bank account in Guernsey in charges related to his bankruptcy.
At his court hearing on Thursday in London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, he was accused of not complying with obligations to disclose information and was told he could face seven years in jail.
The 52-year-old German former tennis star, who was declared bankrupt in June 2017, pleaded not guilty to a string of 19 criminal charges over his failure to disclose money and property between May 2017 and June 2017.
The court heard details about the concealment of debt and four counts of omission about state of affairs relating to bank accounts with JP Morgan Belgium, as well as Guernsey’s Julius Baer bank.
It is alleged he hid his stake of shares in AI firm Breaking Data Corp and did not mention bank accounts in Belgium and Guernsey to bankruptcy proceedings.
Among the other charges were details of a flat in Coleherne Court, Chelsea, which went undeclared along with two other German properties.
Bankruptcy issues were considered at hearings in the High Court in London.
Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot conditionally bailed Becker to next appear at London’s Southwark Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on 22 October.
Mr Becker became a teenage tennis phenomenon when won the Wimbledon men’s singles championship in 1985, at the age of 17 years and seven months – the youngest ever to do so.
The former world number one and six-time Grand Slam champion collected 49 singles titles out of 77 finals during his 16 years as a professional tennis player.
