» Banker sentenced to jail for F1 bribery affair

Disgraced German merchant banker Gerhard Gribkowsky has been sentenced to jail by a Munich court after being found guilty of corrupt behaviour over the sale of the sport’s commercial rights to CVC Capital Partners.

Gribkowsky was arrested almost 18 months ago after an investigation alleged that he took over $40 million in under the table payments during the sale process, with the money alleged to have come from one of the family trust funds held by F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone.

After confessing to having received the payments, Gribkowsky has been hit with an eight-and-a-half-year stint in jail.

The finding could have serious implications for Ecclestone – who confirmed that he had issued the payment after being ‘shaken down’ by the former BayernLB Banker – who prosecutors claim acted as “an accomplice in an act of bribery”, not a victim, in the entire affair.