Former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker was released from a UK prison early Thursday morning and now faces immediate deportation after serving eight months of his sentence for hiding assets and loans to avoid paying debts.
The disgraced 55-year-old German was jailed for two and a half years in April after being found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act, as Breitbart News reported.
The court found Becker guilty of illegally transferring money and hiding assets to keep them from being part of his bankruptcy case. Prosecutors said the tennis star hid millions of dollars that way.
Becker, a three-time Wimbledon champion and former men’s world No. 1, was convicted of hiding more than $3 million in assets after filing for bankruptcy in 2017. He initially faced a maximum of seven years in prison but has now been released in less than half that time.
File/Former tennis player Boris Becker walks outside Southwark Crown Court, in London, Friday, April 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
The BBC understands Becker will be deported from the United Kingdom without delay.
A Home Office spokesperson told BBC Sport: “Any foreign national who is convicted of a crime and given a prison sentence is considered for deportation at the earliest opportunity.”
Becker qualifies for automatic deportation as a foreign national who does not have British citizenship and received a custodial sentence of more than 12 months.
Becker has lived in the UK since 2012, having retired from playing in 1999. He won six Grand Slam singles title, including three at Wimbledon, during his 15-year career.
He was declared bankrupt in June 2017 over an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his estate in Mallorca, Spain.