The case in New York revolved around the $830 million sale of a 47 percent
stake in Formula One to CVC by German bank BayernLB.
Bluewaters alleged that it was the highest bidder and that Ecclestone had
favoured a sale to CVC because it planned to keep him on as chief executive
of a business he built into a global money-spinner.
Ecclestone, 83, is waiting to hear the outcome of a $100 million damages claim
brought in London by a German company which says it too lost out because of
the CVC deal.
He will go on trial in Munich in April after being charged with bribing former
BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to smooth the sale to CVC.
Ecclestone denies wrongdoing and says he was the victim of coercion by
Gribkowsky.
The 83-year-old assured Formula One’s board last week that he is “innocent of
the charges” and will “vigorously defend the case” when it goes to court.
The Formula One supremo faces charges of bribery and incitement to breach of
trust with a $44 million payment to Gribkowsky. Bribery convictions in
Germany can result in prison sentences of three months to 10 years.
Ecclestone’s lawyers in Germany, Sven Thomas and Norbert Scharf, said on
Thursday that “the alleged bribery did not happen”.
“The accusations in the indictment based on Gribkowsky’s statement are
unfounded and do not… add up to a coherent picture,” they added.
The German banker was convicted in 2012 of taking the payment from Ecclestone
in connection with the undervaluation and sale of a 47 per cent stake in
Formula One to CVC in 2006. He was sentenced to 8½ years in prison for
corruption, tax evasion and breach of trust.