Former Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone has denied reports that he was arrested in Brazil because of an illegal handgun found in his luggage before boarding the plane. “I haven’t been getting any publicity lately and thought I should do something to get it,” joked the 91-year-old Briton, who is now in Portugal.
Ecclestone continued: “I have never been arrested. The authorities wanted me to post a deposit in local currency, which I did not have, and this caused additional drama. I didn’t know I had to register the weapon.” there. There were no bullets in the gun.
It should be noted that Ecclestone is a billionaire and was in charge of Formula 1 for almost 40 years before he was fired in 2016 by the American company Liberty Media, who bought the rights to Formula 1 testing worth $ 8 billion.
Translated by Bernard Al Tayyar