A German court has found former tennis champion Mr Boris Becker guilty of tax evasion but spared him jail by handing him a two-year suspended sentence and a fine.
Mr Becker, one of Germany's top post-war celebrities, admitted on Wednesday he made a mistake by failing to pay taxes worth some $3 million.
The three-time Wimbledom champion had sought clemency with his courtroom admission at the start of his trial and by paying the tax he owed the state last week. The court ordered he pay a fine of €300,000.
State prosecutors had demanded Becker be jailed for three years and six months for dodging German taxes and lying about where he lived, claiming residence in the tax haven of Monaco while staying in Munich between 1991 and 1993.
But Mr Becker's lawyers had argued his crimes did not warrant jail. They claimed he had paid 45 million marks ($22 million) in German tax since moving his residence back to Germany in 1994 as well as the tax for 1991 to 1993.