Boris Becker is platsak and banged up in jail for hiding assets following his bankruptcy.
The 54-year-old tennis legend was found guilty of four charges under the Insolvency Act at the Southwark Crown Court earlier this month and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison by the London court on Friday.
Becker’s lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw had argued that the six-time Grand Slam champion had already “lost literally everything” in a plea for a suspended sentence.
However, Judge Deborah Taylor said that he had “shown no humility” during the proceedings.
The German sports star will serve half of his sentence before being considered for release, Judge Taylor said.
Becker, who has lived in Britain for the past decade, was accused of hiding millions of pounds worth of assets, including two of his Wimbledon trophies, to avoid paying off his debts.
The star, who became the youngest man to win Wimbledon in 1985 at age 17, had said he was “shocked” and “embarrassed” after being declared bankrupt in 2017 over an unpaid loan of over £3 million on his estate on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
He claimed he was left in financial difficulty after a divorce from his first wife Barbara Becker, which he says cost him around £38 million of his earnings.
But the court heard how he received 1.13 million euros from the sale of a Mercedes dealership he owned in Germany – which was paid into a business account described as a “piggy bank”.
The BBC tennis commentator also transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds to other accounts including his ex-wife Barbara and estranged wife Sharlely “Lily” Becker.
Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley told jurors that Becker had given bankruptcy officials “the runaround”.