LONDON (AP) – German tennis legend Boris Becker was discharged from bankruptcy court in London after a judge found he had done “all that he reasonably could do” to repay creditors tens of millions of pounds on Wednesday.
Becker fell far short of repaying his creditors nearly GBP50 million (USD62.5 million) he owed, but Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Nicholas Briggs said it would be “perverse” not to end the case given the efforts Becker made.
“On the spectrum of bankrupts who range from ‘difficult as possible and doing everything to frustrate the trustee’s inquiries’ to ‘co-operative, providing information and delivering up 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 amounts of money and hiding GBP2.5 million (USD3.1 million) in assets after he was declared bankrupt in 2017.
He had been convicted in a London court on four charges under the Insolvency Act, including removal of property, concealing debt and two counts of failing to disclose estate. He was acquitted of 25 other charges. Including nine counts of failing to hand over Grand Slam trophies and his Olympic gold medal to bankruptcy trustees.
