Bernie Ecclestone lawsuit thrown out by New York court

Formula One: Timeline on Constantin Medien case Bernie Ecclestone succeeded in removing one of the legal threats hanging over him after the New York Supreme Court said it had no jurisdiction to consider a $650m lawsuit against the Formula One chief executive.

The 83-year-old F1 supremo, who stands trial later this year in Germany on bribery charges, was being sued by private equity group Bluewaters Communications.

It claimed it lodged a $1bn bid to buy F1 in 2005 from three banks including BayernLB, but that the bid was ignored in favour of a lower offer from CVC, the private equity group.

Bluewaters alleged Mr Ecclestone bribed Gerhard Gribkowsky, former chief risk officer at BayernLB to "steer" the sale of F1 to CVC because it was willing to keep Mr Ecclestone in control of the motor-racing series.

Mr Gribkowsky is serving an eight-and-a-half year jail sentence after being convicted in Germany in 2012 of accepting $44m in bribes from Mr Ecclestone and Bambino, an Ecclestone family trust.

Mr Ecclestone is to stand trial in Germany on bribery charges later this year. He is also awaiting judgment in the High Court hearing in London on the $140m lawsuit filed against him and other parties by German media group Constantin Medien.

BayernLB is planning to file a similar lawsuit, and Swiss prosecutors have also launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances of the $44m payments.

Supreme Court judge Eileen Bransten threw out the Bluewaters claim, which was also served against CVC, Bambino and three F1 corporate entities. She said the case was best heard in either Germany or England - where Mr Ecclestone lives and CVC is based - or Jersey, where the F1 entities and Bluewaters are registered.

Bluewaters argued the case should be heard in New York for a number of reasons, including the fact that it secured financing for its bid from two New York firms, Apollo Global Management and King Street Capital Management.

But the judge said the financing had nothing to do with the lawsuit, adding that neither Apollo nor King Street were plaintiffs in the action.

The judge also gave short shrift to Bluewaters' claim that it was also a New York entity after it set up a limited liability company there 10 days' before filing the action, describing it as "a blatant attempt at forum shopping".

She said: "This action is not about a lost business venture in New York, but rather on allegations that an English citizen bribed a German citizen to compel a German bank to sell its interest in a Jersey company to an English company rather than another Jersey company."

Kent Yalowitz, counsel for Bluewaters, said: "We are evaluating the judge's decision, which was focused on where the case should go forward."

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