LONDON (AP) – Tennis great Boris Becker, who is on trial in London charged with not relinquishing his assets after he was declared bankrupt, has told a jury about his struggles with money, including payments for an “expensive divorce” and debts when he lost large parts of his income after his retirement.
Becker, 54, said Monday that he could not earn enough to pay his debts because of bad publicity as his reputation deteriorated. He said he had “expensive lifestyle commitments” including a house in Wimbledon costing £22,000 ($28,800) in rent each month.
He added that his divorce from ex-wife Barbara Becker in 2001 involved high child support payments for their two sons. He said it was on top of having to support his daughter Anna Ermakova and his mother in a deal that included a £2.5 million ($3.3 million) London apartment.
Becker was declared bankrupt in June 2017 and faces 24 charges, including failing to hand over his trophies and other awards, including an Olympic gold medal, and hiding property from trustees.
He allegedly hid more than $1 million from the sale of a Mercedes car dealership he owned in Germany, transferring hundreds of thousands of pounds into other accounts.
The six-time Grand Slam champion denies the allegations.
Becker’s bankruptcy arose from a loan of 4.6 million euros ($5 million) from a private bank in 2013, as well as about $1.6 million borrowed from a British businessman the following year, according to testimony at trial. , which started last week and is still running.
Becker also owed the Swiss authorities about five million francs ($5.5 million) and just under 1 million euros in debt for being convicted of tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002.
Becker said he struggled to repay the loans “because several companies failed to renew their contracts.”
“My image wasn’t as good anymore, the Becker brand wasn’t as highly regarded as before and they didn’t want to be associated with a brand that was criticized in the media,” he said. “(It’s) very hard when you’re bankrupt and you’re in the papers for it every week. (It’s) very hard to make a lot of money with my name.”
