Ecclestone warned Mosley of plot against him

According to the British newspaper 'The Times', FIA President Max Mosley was warned by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone that people had been hired to bring him in discredit and that they had been given an 'unlimited budget' to do so. Ecclestone got this information of Dean Attew, who was contacted in January by some representing people who wanted Mosley removed from office.

Attew, a co-founder of Titon International, the corporate intelligence company, said to 'The Times': “In January this year I received a call from a friend. We had a meeting and I was approached and told there was an open budget to effectively go out and source material that would bring Max Mosley to his knees and, more importantly, remove him from office and discredit him publicly.

“During the conversation I said to the guy, 'What's your budget?' and he said, 'It's an open budget,' and I said, 'OK, be specific here, are you after Max, are you after the FIA or are you after Bernie?' They then went back and they came back a little while later and said, 'We are not going to pursue it for the time being.' The person contacted me because they knew of my relationship with Bernie but did not know of my relationship with Max. The reason they contacted me was to find out whether I had any loyalty to Max and whether I knew anything of value.”

“I sat down with Bernie and told him what I'd heard. Bernie then told Max - I know this because Max later confirmed this to me. Because of the relationship I have with both of them, and Max knowing who I was, I assumed that the warning would be taken seriously.”

Attew continued: “I hear things about people suggesting Bernie was behind this, but that is ridiculous. From the very first indication Bernie and I, with Max's knowledge, have tried to find out who was the source.”