Becker 'acted dishonestly' by failing to hand over trophies, court told

Boris Becker "acted dishonestly" when he failed to hand over nine trophies and medals won during his illustrious tennis career to pay his debts, a British court was told on Monday. The 54-year-old former world number one was declared bankrupt in 2017 after borrowing around £3.5 million ($4.6 million) from private bank Arbuthnot Latham for a property in Mallorca, Spain, a jury was told.

The six-time Grand Slam champion, accused of hiding or failing to hand over assets before and after his bankruptcy, is on trial in London charged with 24 counts relating to the period between May and October 2017. Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley said the assets include silverware such as the 1985 and 1989 Wimbledon trophies, Becker's Australian Open trophies from 1991 and 1996 and his 1992 Olympic men's doubles gold medal.

The German, who commentated for the BBC at Wimbledon last year, is accused of concealing 1.13 million euros ($1.25 million) from the sale of a car dealership he owned in Germany and transferring funds to other bank accounts. He also allegedly failed to declare two German properties, as well as his interest in a flat in London, and hid a 825,000-euro bank loan.

"It is the prosecution case that Mr Becker acted dishonestly with regards to a number of his assets, that in various ways he effectively hid from, or made unavailable to, those responsible for identifying the assets," said Chalkley. "The prosecution say Mr Becker did this both before and after the date of his bankruptcy agreement by not disclosing, not providing, or delivering up, or removing assets or things of value." Becker, who won 49 singles titles during his 16 years as a professional player, arrived at Southwark Crown Court in south London, hand in hand with his