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F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone pays court $100m to end bribery trial
Bernie Ecclestone has agreed to pay $100m (£60m) to end his bribery trial, a Munich court has confirmed.
The agreement has secured Ecclestone's job as head of Formula 1 and spared him from the possibility of 10 years of jail time.
The 83-year-old billionaire was accused of bribing German banker Gerhard Gribowsky with $44m in order to ensure the sale of a major stake in Formula 1 eight years ago
Under German law judges can agree with the prosecution and the defence to dismiss or settle a case for a fine or community service. The proviso exists in order to ease the burden on courts and come to a conclusion on difficult cases.
Court spokeswoman Andrea Titz said:
There was no conclusion on guilt or innocence of the defendant. He is leaving this courtroom a free man.The court did not consider a conviction overwhelmingly likely from the present point of view.He is neither acquitted nor judged, rather this is a special type of ending a procedure which is in theory available to all types of cases.
Gribowsky was convicted of corruption and tax evasion in 2012, and has been handed a eight-and-a-half-year jail sentence by Peter Noll, the same judge who agreed to Ecclestone's $100m payment. Ecclestone denies any wrongdoing.
Private equity group CVC, the majority stakeholder in the company with a 35 per cent stake, earlier said it would fire Ecclestone from his position if he had been found guilty.