Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone will pay a $100 million court settlement to end his bribery case in Munich, Germany.

Ecclestone, who owns the commercial rights to F1 had been on trail since April 2013 for allegedly bribing German banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, to secure the sale of the 47% stake of the sport from BayernLB to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners. Ecclestone claimed he only paid the $44 million bribe because he was being blackmailed.

A loophole in German law makes provision for a defendant to pay to end a trail under certain set of circumstances. After a defendant pays, he/she is neither guilty or innocent