Embattled Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone dodged another legal bullet challenging his authority over the world’s most popular auto racing series when a German judge decreed that, while he did toss a $45 million bribe to German businessman Gerhard Gribowsky, the bribe did not devalue F1 and was merely a payoff intended to keep Gribowsky quiet about Ecclestone’s UK tax evasion scheme.
Gribowsky who initiated the bribery/payoff attempt in 2006 in Bahrain, is already in jail, and since there was no devaluing of the F1 franchise, the German judge tossed the case out.