Despite his purported financial woes, jurors were also told that Becker spent around £40,000 on an ankle operation at a private clinic, paid more than £10,000 to a private jet company and splashed out £5,000 at a luxury golf resort in China.
Among the accounts he transferred the money to in the wake of his bankruptcy were those of his ex-wife Barbara Becker and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker.
On Friday, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, defending, said Becker had not spent money on a “lavish lifestyle” but used funds to pay child maintenance, lawyers, business expenses and rent.
He added: “He was in desperate financial straits and what in essence he has done is exercised his own choice as to which creditors to pay, choosing or preferring to pay monies to dependents rather than allowing the joint trustees to determine how those monies should be applied.”
None of the money has been recovered, the court heard, and it was this charge that the judge considered to be the most serious – and for which she imposed a two-and-a-half year sentence.
Becker also failed to declare his share in a £1 million property in his home town of Leimen, Germany, hid a loan worth around £700,000 – rising to £1.1 million with interest – and concealed 75,000 shares in a tech firm valued at £66,000.
For each of the three offences, Becker was handed an 18-month sentence to be served concurrently with the two-and-a-half year sentence.
Credit: Source link
