multisync wrote: ↑31 Jul 2018, 23:00
The money laundering was done to keep FI afloat. India has strict sponsorship laws and its difficult and I believe illegal to sponsor outside India. That was the reason he bought whyte & McKay whiskey so he could channel funds from India to the team. Its now being played as money laundering but in actuality was just a way of moving money around for legitimate purposes.
He's not pure as the driven snow but he's certainly not quite the villian he's painted to be
Perfectly summarized in this article as to why this CVC Captail and that senile imbecile Bernie Ecclestone laid out this blueprint for the demise of some decently performing teams who inevitably are unable to sustain themselves financially and fall into the clutches of the F1 Cartel, it's high time I stop supporting this sport in any way -
"Unlike many of the 50-odd casualties F1 has suffered over the years, Force India is too good to die, and ended in this predicament not though sporting ineptitude or a loss of focus, but through circumstances playing out tens of thousands of miles removed from the team’s Silverstone base, which were then compounded by Mallya’s refusal to sell, even in the face of fair offers. He firmly believed if he held out until 2021 all would be good.
The tragedy is that even without Mallya’s legal battles Force India was doomed to fail, battered and beaten by a structure devised by F1’s previous commercial owners CVC Capital Partners, one designed to give independent teams absolutely no chance of survival, then gradually force them into the hands of the sport’s majors, Ferrari and Mercedes – who between them aim to “control” six teams, with two owned by Red Bull.
Only Renault and McLaren operate outside of what could arguably be deemed to be a cartel, with all others being somehow reliant on one of the three majors, who, crucially, stand to share bonuses of $250m (£190m) between them this year. That amounts to a billion quid paid to the three top teams since the structure was introduced in 2013, and is paid to them simply for turning up, before any performance-related monies!
Despite an uncertain future, Force India is preparing for 2019
Any wonder they alone have won races since the payment structure was introduced, and invariably locked out the top six places, barring the unexpected?
Extrapolate those bonuses over the full 2013-20 (inclusive) period, and F1’s total money “pot” – amount disbursed in performance payments – would have benefitted to the tune of £1,6bn. On average over the years Force India qualified for 10 per cent of that pot, or £160m – roughly its current pile of debt, including shareholder receivables.
Consider the fate of independents under CVC’s payment structure, in turn inherited by Liberty, and excluded from fat bonuses paid to the top three are – or were in the case of defunct teams – with their fates in brackets:
McLaren – paid bonus ±40 percent of that paid to top three teams
Caterham – administration, then wound up
Marussia/Manor – administration twice, change of ownership and wound up
Lotus – staved off three winding-up attempts, then sold to Renault
Williams – paid flat bonus of £8m on heritage basis, clearly hit hard times
Force India – in administration
Toro Rosso – owned by Red Bull
Sauber – changed ownership after being unable to meet obligations
Haas – incorporated 2015, operates to unique business model"
https://www.racefans.net/2018/08/01/wha ... in-future/
