European soccer team Bayern Munich boss involved in tax fraud

MUNICH, Germany, March 10 (UPI) -- Uli Hoeness, president of European soccer team Bayern Munich, has admitted to evading $25 million in German taxes and hiding funds in Swiss bank accounts.

Hoeness was previously charged with evading a far smaller sum of $4.8 million in taxes and could be looking at a jail term if found guilty. Hoeness agreed to his tax evasion last year after he tried to file revised tax papers, hoping for amnesty in return for paying the taxes he owned.

But investigators said that he sought amnesty because authorities were already on the trail. The penalty for tax evasion is ten years, but prosecutors will only seek a seven-year term. Hoeness cooperated with investigators by giving them proof of money he had used to bet on large-scale gambling on the foreign currency markets, stating that he lost more than he had invested.

"Between 2002 and 2006 I really gambled with sums that today I find difficult to grasp. For me it was a kick; pure adrenalin," said Hoeness.

Hoeness, who was close to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was informed of the media interest in his finances while lunching with Merkel in January. He was also informed by the Vontobel bank that journalists from Stern magazine were making inquiries, he said.

Hoeness is a former German forward, who helped the national team win the 1972 European Championship and then the World Cup two years later, and was credited with the success of the Bayern Munich soccer team.

[BBC]