Former world tennis No.1 Boris Becker was released on Thursday from British prison where he was serving a sentence for financial offenses with a view to being deported, the PA news agency reported, without specifying the destination. of the German champion.
The 55-year-old six-time Grand Slam winner, who had lived in the UK since 2012, was found guilty in April of concealing or illicitly transferring hundreds of thousands of euros and pounds to avoid settling his debts after being declared bankrupt.
He had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a London court but only served eight months.
He was notably accused of having transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling from a professional account to other accounts, in particular of his ex-wives, of not having declared property in Germany and of having hidden a loan. of 825,000 euros and shares in a company.
An auction to pay off his debts
Boris Becker, who disputed all of the charges, had on the other hand been acquitted of certain other charges, including those relating to the disappearance of his trophies.
He had assured the hearing that he did not know where they were.
Among the nine accolades creditors would have liked to get their hands on are two of his three Wimbledon cups, two Australian Open trophies and his doubles gold at the 1992 Olympics.
The former tennis star said during the trial, which was held from March 21 to April 8, that he still had "many" of the awards and memories he collected in 15 years on the circuit, but some have disappeared.
He had already sold part of his awards at auction for 700,000 pounds (840,000 euros) in order to pay off part of his debts.
At the time of his bankruptcy, his debts were estimated at up to 50 million pounds sterling (59 million euros).
This case is not the first for Boris Becker, a restless sportsman, who had lived in Monaco and Switzerland before settling in England.
He has already had legal setbacks for unpaid debts with Spanish justice, concerning work in his villa in Mallorca, and with Swiss justice for not having paid the pastor who married him in 2009.
In 2002, the German courts sentenced him to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 500,000 euros for some 1.7 million euros in tax arrears.
