LONDON – German tennis legend Boris Becker was discharged from London’s bankruptcy court after a judge concluded on Wednesday that he had done “everything he reasonably could do” to repay creditors tens of millions of pounds.
Becker was unable to pay his creditors nearly 50 million pounds ($62.5 million) he owed, but Insolvency and Companies Court chief judge Nicholas Briggs said it would be “perverse” not to close the case, given the efforts that Becker made.
“On the spectrum of bankrupts ranging from ‘as difficult as possible and doing everything to frustrate the trustee’s investigations’ to ‘cooperative, providing information and handing over assets,’ Mr. Becker clearly falls on the right side of the line,” Briggs wrote.
Becker, 56, was deported to Germany two years ago after serving eight months in a London prison for illicitly transferring large sums of money and hiding 2.5 million pounds ($3.1 million) worth of assets after having been declared bankrupt in 2017.
He had been convicted in a London court of four charges under the Insolvency Act, including removal of property, concealment of debts and two counts of non-disclosure of assets. He was acquitted of another 25 charges, including nine counts of failing to hand over Grand Slam trophies and his Olympic gold medal to the bankruptcy trustees.
He was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison, but was released early under an accelerated deportation program for foreign nationals.
Becker achieved stardom in 1985, at age 17, when he became the first unseeded player to win the Wimbledon singles title. He became the No. 1 player in the world, winning two Wimbledon titles, two Australian Open titles and one US Open title.
He retired from professional tennis in 1999 and worked as a coach, television commentator, investor and famous poker player.
Becker blamed laziness and bad advice for his financial problems that led him to declare bankruptcy after owing creditors almost 50 million pounds ($62.5 million) on an unpaid loan of more than 3 million pounds (3 .75 million dollars) on his property in Mallorca, Spain.
Lawyer Katie Longstaff told a High Court hearing last month that the joint trustees did not oppose his effort to close the case, but did not support him because he still owed around £42 million ($52.5 million ).
Becker’s lawyer, Louis Doyle, said the two sides reached an agreement that includes a “substantial sum” that the tennis great must pay. The deal “includes the exceptional trophies,” Doyle said, adding that Becker “can’t do more than he did to get us to this point.”
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Becker’s age has been corrected to 56, not 57.
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