South China Morning Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
Formula One 2016
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law has reportedly been kidnapped in Brazil. Photo: EPA
SportOther Sport

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone’s mother-in-law kidnapped in Brazil, say reports

The mother-in-law of the Formula One chief Bernie has been kidnapped in Sao Paulo, according to a leading Brazilian news magazine

Formula One 2016
Reuters
Reuters
Why you can trust SCMP

The mother-in-law of Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has been kidnapped in Sao Paulo and criminals are demanding 120 million reais (HK$283.2 million) in ransom, according to reports in a leading Brazilian news magazine.

Aparecida Schunck, the mother of Ecclestone’s wife, Fabiana Flosi, was seized on Friday night, Veja and other news organisations reported.

It did not give more details, and local police could not be reached to confirm the reports.

Ecclestone, whom Forbes magazine estimates is worth $3.1 billion – along with his family – and one of the most powerful men in sport, married Flosi in 2012, three years after meeting her at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Ecclestone is reported to be worth $3.1 billion. Photo: AP

Ecclestone, who is now 85, divorced his then wife of 25 years, Croatian model Slavica Radic, in order to marry the young Brazilian. The couple now live in England.

Kidnapping was common in Brazil a decade ago with several people seized each day, often for sums of just a few hundred dollars.

A crackdown by police, including the formation of a special anti-kidnap division, reduced the number considerably, and the crime has become much rarer.

Brazil is currently in the midst of its worst economic crisis in almost a century.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: F1 chief’s mother-in-law ‘kidnapped’
Post