Advertisement
New Zealand markets closed
  • NZX 50

    11,946.43
    +143.15 (+1.21%)
     
  • NZD/USD

    0.5940
    +0.0006 (+0.10%)
     
  • ALL ORDS

    7,937.50
    -0.40 (-0.01%)
     
  • OIL

    83.50
    +0.14 (+0.17%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,332.40
    -9.70 (-0.41%)
     

Boris Becker 'doing fine' in jail


Boris Becker is doing "fine" in prison.
The former tennis champion - who has sons Noah, 28, and Elias, 22, with first wife Barbara, daughter Anna, 21, from a brief relationship with Angela Ermakova, and Amadeus, 12, with estranged wife Lilly Becker - is two months into a 30-month sentence at HMP Huntercombe, Oxfordshire, for hiding assets following his bankruptcy but his estranged spouse insisted "everything is OK".
Lilly told Mail Online: “Boris is fine, I am fine — we are all fine — I have been very busy ... there’s not much more to say, everything is OK.
“I’ve not been watching Wimbledon and don’t want to talk about it or anything else, I’m currently busy ... we’re all fine, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Boris is believed to have been watching the flagship tennis tournament on TV in his cell and this week was visited by his oldest sons and girlfriend Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro.
The 54-year-old sportsman may also be set to receive a visit from his friend and former court rival John McEnroe, who "feels terrible" about his pal's current circumstances.
He said last week: "Boris is a friend of mine. This is just horrible. I want to see him if I possibly can and if he’s willing to see people.
“I just feel terrible. He’s one of the great players that ever played the game, and I know it meant a lot to Boris. He’s been going through a lot for a long time. He kept telling me it’s going to be OK, it’s under control. That’s Boris.
"He was just a very confident player on the court. But sometimes you’re not necessarily a great investor, you don’t take care of your money off the court as well.”
Becker had been accused of hiding millions of pounds worth of assets, including two of his Wimbledon trophies, to avoid paying off his debts.
The star, who has lived in Britain for the past decade, had described how he was "shocked" and "embarrassed" after being declared bankrupt in 2017 over an unpaid loan of over £3 million on his estate on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
Becker claimed that he was left in financial difficulty after a costly divorce from his first wife Barbara, which he says cost him around £38 million of his career earnings.
But the court heard how he received around 1.13 million euros (£950,000) from the sale of a Mercedes dealership he owned in Germany – which was paid into a business account described as a "piggy bank" used for personal expenses.
The BBC tennis pundit also transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds to other accounts including Barbara and Lilly, and prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley told jurors that Becker had given bankruptcy officials "the runaround".