DECEMBER 15, 2007

Former F1 team boss in some difficulty

Prince Malik Ado Ibrahim was once a part owner of the Arrows Formula 1 team. Now the Nigerian is in big trouble in the United States of America where he had hoped to create a motor racing empire after his F1 adventures came to an end. In 2004 he created a team called Maverick Motorsports with the plan to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Robert Richardson III as the driver. The team took part in three races at the end of 2005 but then the various parties fell out and in March this year a Grand Jury in Texas (a jury which determines whether there is enough evidence for a trial) indicted Ado-Ibrahim on a first-degree felony count of theft over $200,000 and a second-degree felony count of securing execution of a document by deception. The Collin County District Attorney's Special Crimes Unit (SCU) alleged that Ado-Ibrahim stole about $625,000 from Robert Richardson's father by promising it would be deposited into a Bank of America trust account that did not exist. The court issued a warrant under the name Malik Ibrahim and police officials arrested him in Los Angeles in May. He is being held in the Collin County Detention Center in McKinney, Texas (not far from Dallas) on a bond of $1.5m.

The SCU has now charged him with seven counts of perjury for allegedly giving false testimony during his trials relating to the dispute with Richardson.