Former tennis star Boris Becker was released from his obligations after a London bankruptcy court judge ruled Wednesday that he had done “everything reasonable” to repay his creditors tens of millions of pounds sterling he owed them.
Becker will therefore not have to repay nearly 50 million pounds (C$85.9 million) to his creditors, and the chief judge of the Insolvency and Companies Court, Nicholas Briggs, mentioned that he would be “indecent” to force Becker to repay all of his debts, given the efforts he has made so far to do so.
“On the bankruptcy scale, which ranges from ‘do everything to make it difficult for trustees and frustrate creditors’ to ‘cooperate, provide information and liquidate assets,’ Mr. Becker is clearly in the second group.” , Briggs wrote.
Becker, who is 56, was returned to Germany two years ago after serving an eight-month prison sentence in London for illegally transferring large sums of money and hiding £2.5 million (C$4.3 million) in assets after declaring bankruptcy in 2017.
Becker became a tennis star in 1985, at the age of 17, after becoming the first unseeded player to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon. He then became world No. 1, won two titles at Wimbledon, two more at the Australian Open, and one at the United States Open.
He announced his retirement from sports in 1999 and worked as a coach, television analyst, investor and poker player.