Becker sentenced to two and a half years in prison

The former exceptional athlete had not disclosed assets worth more than one million euros in his bankruptcy proceedings. Becker had therefore guilty a jury three weeks ago in several charges. The 54-year-old had denied the allegations. He can appeal against the judgment.

Boris Becker arrives at London court for sentencing as he faces possible jail term | AFP

The lay judges at the London Court of Court of Southwark Crown Court came to the opinion that Becker had veiled the possession of a property in his home town, unauthorizedly transferred high sums to other accounts, and that shares in a company for artificial intelligence and a loan debt had been silent.

The public prosecutor had raised a total of 24 charges against Becker. Administrator Rebecca Chalkley saw it as proven that he had intentionally kept numerous possessions silent and now approved his advisors the fault that he had taken care of his finances. The defender of the tennis legend had stated that his client was naive, but innocent. The jury followed this reasoning in 20 points, also when asked about disappeared trophies. But the guilty verdict in four points is sufficient to fundamentally change Becker's life.

Becker despite high million income in financial need

Becker, who lives in London, was declared in court in 2017. He then had to disclose his assets to the bankruptcy administrators - but according to the court, he failed to fail. The triple Wimbledon winner had collected about $ 25 million in prize money during his career and, according to his own estimates, earned about the same sum with advertising. Nevertheless, he fell into financial problems. For this purpose, Becker was responsible for this, among other things, the expensive divorce of ex-wife Barbara and high maintenance costs for daughter Anna Ermakowa.

Among other things, Becker comments on the BBC tennis tournaments and is very popular with the British. He was also regularly heard and see on German television at "Eurosport". His partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro accompanied him to court every day, most recently his eldest son Noah was by his side. The two were also there on Friday.

The President of the German Tennis Federation (DTB), Dietloff von Arnim, had reaffirmed his loyalty with Becker before the prison of punishment. He celebrated "undisputedly outstanding success" for the German tennis, said von Arnim on Friday on the sidelines of the clay court tournament in Munich. "We are there, I would say, loyal to the side of our tennis icon."

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