The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says it will charge Bernie Ecclestone with fraud by false representation following an HMRC investigation codenamed Operation Gallic.

The charge against the 91-year-old “relates to his failure to declare to HMRC the existence of assets held overseas believed to be worth in excess of £400m”, said Andrew Penhale, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Serious Economic Organised and International Directorate, which was launched earlier this year.

Simon York, Director of HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service stated that the charge “follows a complex and worldwide criminal investigation”.

Ecclestone was the head of Formula 1 for 40 years until 2017, where he amassed a multibillion-pound fortune.

His case will be heard at Westminster Magistrates Court, with the first hearing set for Monday 22^nd August.

Ecclestone has now made headlines three months in a row – in June, his interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain was widely reported for comments Ecclestone made about Vladimir Putin and Ukraine; in May, Ecclestone was arrested for illegally carrying an undocumented gun in his luggage while boarding a private plane in Brazil.

Fraud investigations by ESA Risk

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