Motorsport Off Topic Thread

MissChief said:
The problem with paying the money to make the case go away is that it's as good as admitting guilt.
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As long as it keeps him out of jail (or other serious punishment), I think its a fair price to pay.

And who cares about admitting guilt?
Most top businessmen are corrupt. And the more (financially) successful, the greater the level of corruption.
 
Moses said:
I think his point is that he wasn't found not guilty of anything... the case was 'merely' dismissed as the claimant hadn't lost out.
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indeed the judge said he had made a corrupt deal and that he had been unreliable and untruthful in court/
if he was "guilty" then it would only be compensation paid out in this case anyway?

civil vs criminal.

I'm guessing it was a civil case because if it was a criminal case I'm sure having done that corrupt deal the judge talks about then I'm sure he wouldn't be walking free right now.
 
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Certainly BUT, the result of this case will definitely be mentioned during the "main" criminal case, to be held in a few months time.

The other thing which the judge will have to consider is Bernie's age. He has to ask himself the question: "is it worth giving an 81 year old (or however old he is), a stiff sentence".

In most countries, the answer to the above will be "no", as the crime involved is not particularly heinous.

Of course, we have to wait and see what happens. Nobody can absolutely predict what the judge (or jury) will decide.

One thing is for certain: money can get you off scott-free. OJ Simpson's murder trial proved this. And Bernie has plenty of money.
 
JRS said:
I would, but I'm allergic to the Grauniad. ;)
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It's not a paper I read. ;)


Skeeter said:
Personally, if F1 loses Bernie then the sport is history. The crazy old man is one of the only things stopping the FIA destroying the sport, or the teams ripping it apart themselves.
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So when Bernie retires/dies so does F1? :confused:

Bernie doesn't stop everything the FIA want to do.
 
sunama said:
Certainly BUT, the result of this case will definitely be mentioned during the "main" criminal case, to be held in a few months time.

The other thing which the judge will have to consider is Bernie's age. He has to ask himself the question: "is it worth giving an 81 year old (or however old he is), a stiff sentence".

In most countries, the answer to the above will be "no", as the crime involved is not particularly heinous.
Of course, we have to wait and see what happens. Nobody can absolutely predict what the judge (or jury) will decide.

One thing is for certain: money can get you off scott-free. OJ Simpson's murder trial proved this. And Bernie has plenty of money.
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Maybe not - but at the end of the day the way lawyers work in general whatever sentence is handed down to Bernie could be used as "mittigating circumstances" for similar future cases also

Either way its irrelevant as Bernie won anyway (and now he has won this case, I doubt the one in a few months time will have a different outcome)
 
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Was reading about Bernie winning the case on the BBC website until my eyes were drawn to an article regarding the largest legal brothel in Europe and I instantly lost interest (looks a bit like the one in Dishonored)
 
Skeeter said:
And while the payments have been confirmed as a bribe, the argument is that it was in response to Gribkowsky blackmailing Bernie about his tax issues,
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So why would Bernie pay a blackmailer unless he actually has tax issues? If he is above board, then he wouldn't have to worry about false allegations. Maybe the tax people should investigate, and he would be done for tax anyway :rolleyes:
And a bribe is only a bribe if it intends to induce something dodgy. Even if the final resultant payment was because of blackmail, the initial deal between them would have been a bribe. If the money was only ever discussed once blackmail was mentioned, then it is not strictly a bribe, but more a pay-off.
 
Because as many celebrities have shown recently you can have morally questionable tax issues that aren't illegal.

Bernie is accused of paying a bribe in order to arrange under valuation of F1 in relation to a sale. He was sued for damages based on that, but the case has found no financial damage was done, which suggests that the evidence points to the payment not being a bribe to undervalue the sport.

But it was confirmed to be a corrupt payment. To me that suggests Bernie is telling the truth and it was a pay off to silence someone trying to blackmail him. I don't know what sentence being guilty of that would carry? But its far less serious than bribery.
 
Mike306 said:
So when Bernie retires/dies so does F1? :confused:

Bernie doesn't stop everything the FIA want to do.
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Do you think Jean Todt or a collaberation of the teams would be able to do a better job? The sudden and forceful removal of Bernie would leave F1 in a mess. At least Bernie knows what he wants and how to try and get it. The FIA are bumbling idiots swayed by shouty tantrum throwers, and the teams as a collective have the organisation potential of a pre school class.

F1 needs a dragon to keep the yappy dogs in line. I just hope Bernie finds a replacement for himself before he's removed or passes. As with most things in F1 at the moment, Bernie is far from perfect, but he's better than the alternatives.
 
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