Motor racing mogul Ecclestone drawn into UK money laundering case

Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone put up millions of dollars to guarantee a series of gold transactions that made “no commercial sense”, prosecutors said at a trial into one of the UK’s biggest money laundering operations.

Mr Ecclestone provided a $10 million personal guarantee for a gold deal for James Stunt, his son-in-law at the time, prosecutors said, as they laid out an elaborate chain of transactions aimed at hiding the origin of bags of street cash.

In total, about £266m ($328m) was banked by NatWest and then laundered, prosecutors allege.

Mr Ecclestone is not a defendant in the case and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Mr Stunt is one of eight people standing trial over allegations of laundering cash from criminal activity.

Only a few branded bars were ever made, and no F1 gold coins were minted, said Nicholas Clarke, the lead prosecution lawyer.

“The involvement in these businesses made no commercial sense at all and appears to be vanity projects” for Mr Stunt, he said.

The financing arrangement, provided by Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia was intended to help in paying for branded gold bars and coins.

Instead, the money was used to acquire gold that would be melted and broken up and destined for Dubai, Mr Clarke said. The Canadian bank is not alleged to have done anything wrong.

The lender also delivered around £50m of gold — about 1,700 kilograms — to Mr Stunt’s company.

Mr Stunt, who was previously married to Mr Ecclestone’s daughter Petra, says he did not know the cash was criminal and has denied any misconduct.

He told authorities if he had the “slightest suspicion that anything illegal” was taking place, he would have walked away, Mr Clarke said.

But the prosecutor said Mr Stunt was not as wealthy as he claimed he was.

“His own personal finances are shrouded in mystery,” Mr Clarke said.

Much of the gold, purchased with the Bank of Nova Scotia's financing, was cut up and melted down into “wholly anonymous” grains rather than being used to produce the branded gold bars, Mr Clarke said.

The money was sent overseas “in order that, in due course, it could be returned to the crooks from where it came”, he said.

The Bank of Nova Scotia later called in the loan, requiring Mr Ecclestone to repay the full $10m, he said.

Jurors previously heard directors at the English gold dealer tried to hide that they were processing huge amounts of cash from Bank of Nova Scotia.