News about Bernie Ecclestone

Vast amounts of 'criminal cash' were allegedly paid into the bank accounts of a Bradford-based company Fowler Oldfield Ltd, dealing in precious metals and jewellery. This effectively bypassed official checks into the source of the money, which was then used to buy gold, Leeds Crown Court was told. James Stunt, the former son-in-law of billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, is accused of becoming embroiled in and profiting from the alleged money laundering operation by refining gold bars and processing cash.

In my 30 years writing a column for The Mail on Sunday I've filed more than 5,000 reports. Many involve readers' complaints against their bank, insurer, card issuer or utility supplier. Others involve more serious investigations. Hundreds of people I've named in warnings have been banned as company directors. Hundreds of companies I've advised readers to avoid have been shut. The number jailed after being named by me, or who were behind the companies I warned against, goes well into three figures. But in 2011 authorities turned their focus to bribery, corruption, insider dealing and money laundering. Investigating fraud against ordinary investors would take a back seat. There has been one nasty but predictable consequence: junior staff - cold callers - at bogus investment outfits saw bosses raking in a fortune without any action being taken. Typically, the worst slap on the wrist was a ban on acting as a company director - no problem as it was easy to get someone to front for you in your next scam. So yesterday's junior cold callers moved on to become today's rip-off operators, just as today's juniors will become tomorrow's crooks. Here are 20 of the most extraordinary examples in my Readers' Champion case files.

Mark and Lindy O'Hare have snapped up £2.55billion for handing over their 21-year-old company Preqin to the world's biggest asset manager. The O'Hares, who have four children and live on a Grade-II listed farmhouse on the Suffolk coast, will cling on to 80 per cent of the business, meaning they will soon scoop a phenomenal payday. The founders will keep back a huge £2.04bn sum while the remaining £510 million will be divided between employers of the company which is based near London Victoria's station. It means that a lucky few of Preqin's 500 employees, spread across the world's largest financial hubs from New York to Hong Kong , will also become millionaires in the near future.

Mark and Lindy O'Hare (pictured), who own 80% of the business through a family holding, will rake in a £2bn windfall when the deal completes. This alone would make the couple richer than Blackrock boss Larry Fink, who has a net worth of £1.3bn and founded the money manager in 1988.

Bernie Ecclestone was given a helping hand by his wife Fabiana Flosi on Wednesday, as they kicked off his daughter Tamara's 40th birthday celebrations in Ibiza. The Formula One tycoon, 93, was spotted on the beach alongside his wife, 47, and several family members, including youngest daughter Petra, 35, and her husband Sam Palmer, 39. The clan headed down to a dinghy waiting at the shore to speed them over to a luxury yacht out in the Mediterranean.

POLE POSITION: Sir Jackie Stewart, the last hero of the immortals of a bygone era, stated from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey that we would never look upon such a scene again. It was a privilege to be there in the Quire on Tuesday to celebrate the life of Sir Stirling Moss, the greatest all-round motor-racing driver the world has ever known, who was a byword for sportsmanship. There were some 2,000 congregants in the grandest of all English 'parish' churches, its high vaults echoing to the sound of ethereal music. Top-of-the-pops hymns, including I Vow to Thee My Country and Jerusalem resounded, as befitted a man who mostly chose the society of older, less-dominant British cars over reliable winners from the Continent.

The former wife of a Formula 1 tycoon has been told to pay him £2.3million in a bitter five-year row over a luxury ski chalet. Eric Hersman, 63, has been locked in a High Court dispute with Alexandra De Verchere, 55, over the £20million property in Courchevel, France . As part of a divorce agreement in 2019 - following more than 20 years of marriage - Mr Hersman became the sole owner of the ski chalet and a villa in St Tropez. However Ms De Verchere, an interior designer, refused to hand over the keys to Chalet Pearl, which she was letting out for up to £100,000 a week. Mr Hersman, who is an American financier, said: 'She's been using the chalet as a personal cash machine for her and her boyfriend.

The property agent, 39, - who married the Formula 1 heiress Petra, 35, in 2022 - lashed out at the custom, in his second bizarre diatribe of the week. Sam lives with his wife, who is worth an estimated £240million, and their children in their $30,5million Los Angeles mansion . She is the daughter former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and one of the heirs to his £1.9billion fortune.But in his latest video, Sam expressed his annoyance at being asked to tip staff in staff in restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries. Reclining on a sofa and moaning to his 25,700 followers, the 39-year-old said: 'Today's pet hate: tipping of staff.

Senna was F1's brightest star, a sporting giant and an icon in his native Brazil but on lap seven of the ill-fated San Marino Grand Prix - a weekend that had already claimed the life of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger - he ran off the road at 190mph and hit a concrete wall. He died instantly, aged 34. Wednesday will mark the 30th anniversary of Senna's death in Imola and Ecclestone (left), who ruled the sport for four decades, told the PA news agency: 'It was just a disastrous weekend.'

POLE POSITION BY JONATHAN MCEVOY: Bernie Ecclestone believes peace will break out at Red Bull after the scandal that has engulfed the world championship-winning team. The 93-year-old - Formula One's most iconic figure and a best friend of previously embattled team principal Christian Horner - says that everything is mending after the scandal that hit in February. Ecclestone told this column: 'It's peace in our time. And Christian informs me everything's fantastic with Geri.'

POLE POSITION JONATHAN McEVOY: His former PA is back in the Red Bull fold, which is a twist in the Christian Horner story. Since the fallout that has seen a female employee of his suspended from his job, I am told she is organising her diary. Nicole Carling, who has been contacted by journalists to ask if she wanted to talk about Horner, is acting as a 'internal assistant,' with her email sign-off. It would appear that Horner's denial of allegations would derail rumors that she was going to air complaints about any maltreatment.

SPECIAL REPORT BY OLI GAMP: Just hours after touching down in S.O. Paulo, a conversation quickly shifts to Formula E and Formula One's David and Goliath match. We're all aware that the one we're talking about is Goliath, but the underdog has a few tricks up its sleeve to level the playing field, as the classic tale shows. Formula E isn't on everyone's radar - it was once mocked by Bernie Ecclestone as 'like pulling electric lawnmowers around a parking lot.' FE has a deal to race with such cars until 2036. The sun is coming, and people are starting to sit up and take notice. The fact that ex-Formula One chief Ecclestone was a VIP guest at this weekend's run, which was a testament to that.

Neil Trotter bought £10 of Lucky Dip tickets a decade ago today and discovered that he had matched the seven numbers needed to win the massive jackpot on the evening. With his new-found wealth, the self-professed car enthusiast got rid of his 'old banger' Ford Focus and invested in his very own race team, as well as a 2014 McLaren 650S Spider with a personalised number plate worth £100,000. If he is not cruising in his 3.7-litre supercar with a top speed of 204 miles per hour, the racing enthusiast can be found relaxing in his mansion.

Felipe Massa has opened court proceedings in order to reverse Lewis Hamilton's 2008 world championship triumph. On the last corner of the last race in his hometown Brazil, the Brazilian lost by a single point, the first of his seven world championships for McLaren. Massa's family was celebrating the championship in the Ferrari garage at the time. Only for Hamilton to zoom up to the fourth position, where they must rip their dreams apart. Their man had crossed the line as the race winner and potential champion, but they didn't have to zoom up to the fourth position.

Tamara was once chastised for photographing in an online picture of a horse with its mane dyed pink. However, Petra Ecclestone doesn't appear to have benefited from this blunder, although she has posted a snapshot of her Yorkshire terrier dyed in an alarming shade of purple. The daughter of former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone tagged her sister and wrote: "The silence before the storm." Possibly anticipating the backlash.' The storm has arrived, and it has made landfall. Kate Middleton's brother James, who owns a happiness and well-being company for dogs, told me last night that he strongly disagrees with the trend. Just as they are.'Dogs are beautiful.' To color your dog is treating them as an accessory, and that is completely intolerable,' he said.

Christian Horner is expected to attend the unveiling of Red Bull's latest vehicle on Thursday despite calls for the team leader to resign after being accused of 'inappropriate conduct' by a female coworker. A female employee at Red Bull brought the allegation of'strict behaviour' early this month, but Horner has denied any wrongdoing. Horner attended a hearing last Friday and learned whether he would face any penalties or not. Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 god of F1 has begged him to resign to avoid injury to his wife Geri Halliwell and his family, and her family was 'devastated' by the allegations brought against her husband.

In the midst of an investigation into allegations of 'controlling behavior,' Bernie Ecclestone has advised Christian Horner to step down from his role as Red Bull team principal.' After a female Red Bull employee accused him of "inappropriate conduct," the 50-year-old, husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, is fighting to save his career. He denies all charges, but he was forced to testify before a KC, who has been named as the team's internal prosecutor.

Lavinia performed a twirl on stage at the Downey Theatre in Los Angeles, sporting a crown, a Disney princess-style ballgown, heels, and a 'Miss West Coast' sash, posing for cameras and judges in full makeover. Petra, 35, every inch of the doting pageant parent, has declared herself to be a'very proud mummy'. "I am so blessed to be your mother, I will continue to inspire your dreams, never judge you, and always love you," she posted to her 77,000 Instagram followers.

EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: There is no stopping Viscount Newport, Bradford's 43-year-old eldest son and heir, and his wife, Latvian-born Eliza Liepina, 33, from being killed. Barely have I revealed that Eliza has daringly disrobed for a portrait, painted in the late stages of her pregnancy, for the first time. I'm sure that this week, the couple is adopting the American tradition of having a 'baby shower,' a party at which friends'shower' gifts on the soon-to-be-born child. But are the dashing couple in peril of becoming the aristocracy's version of the Kardashians? It's likely that family friends are concerned.

Exclusively BY JONATHAN MCEVOY: Silverstone has negotiated a new 10-year contract worth £300 million for its long-term participation as the home of the British Grand Prix. Mail Sport understands that the announcement will follow later today that the Northamptonshire circuit has signed the deal with Formula One's American owners, Liberty Media. Silverstone, we can tell, will spend £30 million a year to stage one of the sporting summer's greatest jewels until 2034. There are no plans to host a counter-attraction in London. Stefano Domenicali, the current F1 chief executive, is of the opinion that a competition involving such iconic landmarks as the Mall would have sufficient credibility to go forward, but that there are insurgent obstacles, such as closing down major portions of the capital for days on end. Domenicali's participation in a less well-known location outside of town, and London as a result of the past is out of reach.

Christian Horner partied the night away in Mayfair, only a few weeks ago, at a surprise bash at Mount St restaurant thrown by his Spice Girl wife, Geri. It was his 50th birthday, a function marginally postponed due to his Formula One service as team principal of the Red Bull team that dominated last season, winning all but one of the 22 rounds, but the A-List supper could hardly have been merrier, as Gary Barlow, Sir Rod Stewart, and Ronnie Wood serenaded the A-List supper. Bernie Ecclestone and his Brazilian wife Fabiana Flosi were both present. The singers among the crowd sang of Happy Birthday and the half-centurion guest of honor cut the grand three-tier cake on which the legend 'World Champion' was written. Horner chuckled, 'I thought we were making a band.'

Ed Sheeran, JK Rowling, and Bernie Ecclestone were among those named in a list of Britain's top 100 taxpayers. They are among 100 influential people and families who have made it onto the Sunday Times' Tax List, which also includes Russian-born financial trader Alex Gerko and Whetherspoon founder Sir Tim Martin. According to the chart, two-thirds of the super wealthy who made the list this year are paying less tax this year relative to the previous, which comes as families throughout the UK are feeling the financial strain as a result of the cost of living crisis. The study also showed that if you discount the tax bills from both Ecclestone and Gerko, who are ranked as the top two with, then the total tax paid by the remaining people on the list has decreased by £200 million from last year. According to the list, two-thirds of the super wealthy who appeared on the list are paying less tax this year compared to the previous, which comes as families across the UK are feeling the financial strain from the cost of living crisis. The study also revealed that discounting the tax bills from both Ecclestone and Gerko, who are ranked as the top two on the list, will bring the total tax paid by the remaining individuals on the list down by £200 million from last year.

Bernie Ecclestone, 93, and his 47-year-old wife Fabiana Flosi competed in Austria on Saturday at a charity skiing tournament. In Kitzbuehel, the pair were seen at the Kitz Charity Trophy skiing tournament, which raises funds to assist mountain farming families in need. Fabiana was seen donning a black ski-suit with a fluffy hood and taking to the slopes, as well as a Sixt branded vest, white helmet, and ski googles. In the meantime, Ecclestone, wearing a navy coat and a pair of grey and pink sunglasses, glad at the sidelines. At the Men's Downhill event at FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup, Ecclestone was also seen greeting Austrian former Formula One racing driver Gerhard Berger, of whom the charity ski is a feature. Their appearance follows a Formula One triumph that forced the taxman to pay more than half of his income to him but avoided prison after admitting to hiding £416 million from HMRC.

ExCLUSIVE: Alessandro Donati, 46, (right) received an eight-year prison term in November 2021, as well as Alessandro Maltese, 47, while Jugoslav Jovanovic, 26, received 11 years. We learned that Donati was released right before Christmas under the early release program for foreign prisoners. "We would like to say that these people have been given their freedom so soon after the robbery occurred," the millionaire heiress said in a joint statement with her husband Jay Rutland. We would also like to mention that anyone that provides any details that leads to the successful recovery of any of the stolen watches and jewelry will be rewarded.' Although her billionaire father, former Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone, didn't mince his words, she told MailOnline: "Bloody bewildering, this was news to me."