Boris Becker, the former Wimbledon champion, has announced that he will not appeal his conviction or sentence for concealing £2.5 million in assets and loans in order to avoid paying debts.
The six-time Grand Slam champion stated today that he was willing to ‘accept’ the jury’s decision and his two-year and six-month term.
Becker, 54, was sentenced to prison on April 29 at London’s Southwark Crown Court after being convicted of four offenses under the Insolvency Act.
In his first comment since being jailed, he said tersely: ‘I wish to make it clear that I accept the verdicts of the jury, I accept the sentence imposed upon me and that is why I have no intention of seeking any form of appeal.
‘I will serve my sentence in accordance with the court’s decisions.’
Father-of-four Becker, who won Wimbledon three times, made his comments about the case in a statement released by his London lawyers Bark & Co.
The German-born player was accused of hiding some assets and making payments after he was declared bankrupt in June 2017 to allegedly stop sums from being distributed to creditors.
His earlier trial heard how he had been legally obliged to disclose all of his assets to help pay off his debts of nearly £50milion.
Jurors found Becker guilty of removal of property, two counts of failing to disclose estate and concealing debt.
But they cleared him of a further 20 charges which included nine counts of failing to hand over his tennis trophies and medals, including two from Wimbledon.
The jury found he had made £390,000 worth of payments from his business account following his bankruptcy to nine others, including his ex-wife Barbara and estranged wife Sharlely “Lilly” Becker, the mother of his fourth child.
Becker who has lived in London since 2012 was also convicted of failing to declare his share in a sprawling £1m property in his German hometown of Leimen, and hiding a bank loan of almost £700,000 on the house.
The fourth charge related to not revealing his shares in a technology firm Breaking Data Corp valued at £66,000.
Speaking though his lawyers today, he accepted that he should not have made payments after being declared bankrupt.
But he insisted that all the payments he made were ‘commitments to his children and other dependents, medical and professional fees, and other expenses.’
A statement by his lawyers at Bark & Co said: ‘Following his conviction and sentencing Mr Becker would like us to clarify some matters about his trial.
‘Mr Becker was acquitted of 20 of the 24 charges and the Insolvency Service lost the majority of its case against him.
‘In particular Mr Becker was acquitted of every single charge alleging offences by him before the making of the bankruptcy order on 21 June 2017.
‘It was decided by the jury, followed by the Judge in sentencing, that Mr Becker did nothing wrong or illegal regarding his bankruptcy before the bankruptcy order was made.
‘Mr Becker actively tried to avoid being declared bankrupt and to meet his debts.’
Bark & Co admitted that Becker’s assets fell within his bankruptcy estate and should not have been moved by him after he was declared bankrupt.
The statement added: ‘Payments were made from a company account to his dependents and to meet his business and personal expenses as had been done prior to the bankruptcy order.
It is in these circumstances that Mr Becker was convicted of removing of monies between 22 June and 28 September 2017 from his bankruptcy estate (count 4).
‘This was the main conviction against him. Mr Becker accepts that these payments should not have been made after the bankruptcy order without the permission of the trustee in bankruptcy.
‘These payments were primarily to meet Mr Becker’s commitments to his children and other dependents, medical and professional fees, and other expenses.’
Referring to his other convictions, the statement said that Becker accepted he should have earlier disclosed his share in the house in Leimen where his mother lived, the mortgage on the property and the technology shares she owned.
The statement said: ‘Mr Becker accepts that the trustee in bankruptcy should have been provided with information regarding these assets at an earlier time.
‘Details of this property were provided to the trustee in bankruptcy soon after meeting on 13th September 2017.’
Becker was made bankrupt after failing to meet payments for a loan of more than £3m on his luxury estate in Mallorca, Spain.
Judge Deborah Taylor said at his sentencing that he had shown no remorse or acceptance of guilt.
She referred to him having been given a two year suspended jail sentence for tax evasion and attempted tax evasion in Germany in 2002.
Judge Taylor told the former world number one: ‘You did not heed the warning you were given and the chance you were given by the suspended sentence and that is a significant aggravating factor.’
The judge told Becker that he had ‘sought to distance yourself from your offending and your bankruptcy.’
But she added: ‘While I accept your humiliation as part of the proceedings, there has been no humility.’
Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley said the jury had found the Wimbledon commentator had acted ‘deliberately and dishonestly’.
She added: ‘Even now, Mr Becker is still seeking to blame others when it was obviously his duty.’
Becker’s barrister Jonathan Laidlaw QC told the court that Becker’s ‘fall from grace’ had left ‘his reputation in tatters’.
He said: ‘Boris Becker has literally nothing and there is also nothing to show for what was the most glittering of sporting careers and that is correctly termed as nothing short of a tragedy.
‘These proceedings have destroyed his career entirely and ruined any further prospect of earning an income.’
Becker was aged just 17 when he shot to fame in 1985 after becoming the youngest singles male player to win the Wimbledon Championships.
He won a further two Wimbledon titles, two Australian Opens and one US Open, as well as a gold medal at the Olympics in doubles.
Becker retired from tennis in 1999, and has since commentated at Wimbledon for the BBC.
He turned to coaching in 2013, helping Novak Djokovic to win six Grand Slam titles during their three years together Becker had told the jury at the trial that he had career earnings of $50m (about £38 million), but his income had slumped dramatically since 1999.
But he claimed that he had to fund and expensive divorce from his first wife in 2001, child maintenance payments, and ‘expensive lifestyle commitments’, including a £22,000-a-month rented house in Wimbledon, south-west London.
The trial also heard that he had a taste for designer clothes, shopping in Harrods and that he was spending thousands on his children’s school fees.