Bernie Ecclestone put his Formula One shares in his wife's Liechtenstein trust, and the divorce and tax cases followed the trust

Bernie Ecclestone built Formula One's commercial rights into a business worth billions. In 1997 he transferred his shares in the motorsport company to his Croatian wife Slavica, who placed them in a Liechtenstein trust called Bambino, with herself and their daughters Tamara and Petra as beneficiaries. Ecclestone said he had nothing to do with managing the trust and did not benefit from it. Slavica filed for divorce in November 2008 on grounds of unreasonable behaviour, after about 24 years of marriage; it was granted on 11 March 2009. Her settlement was estimated at about £740 million, and it made her one of Britain's richest women. The 1997 transfer later drew tax investigations; in 2015 Ecclestone challenged a tax demand of more than £1 billion in the High Court. In 2023 he pleaded guilty to fraud over an undeclared trust in Singapore and paid about £653 million^†. In 2024 Slavica set up a family office, Elm Cove, to manage her fortune.