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ROME, Italy - Flavio Briatore, once the flamboyant par excellence of Grand Prix circuits, could spend four years in jail for tax fraud.
In 2010, Italian police seized the former Renault chief's 60m luxury yacht, named Force Blue, and said it was "improperly registered as a charter" for tax purposes.
The case returned to the Genoa, Italy, courts this week (May 13), according to Italian media reports.
JAIL-TERM LOOMS
Prosecutors accused 65-year-old Briatore - banned from F1 in 2009 over his involvement in the 'crashgate' scandal - of faking the charter registration to avoid sales, mooring and fuel taxes.
One Italian newspaper said: "Prosecutors Patrizia Petruzziollo and Walter Cotugno demanded four years in prison for Flavio Briatore".
Prosecutors, who are also pursuing Briatore's associates, reportedly allege that the unpaid taxes amount to the equivalent of R48-million but Briatore said in January 2015: "If the Guardia di Finanza (tax police) had told me I had to pay, I would have done so without problems."