Formula 1 News: Former F1 backmarker Adrian Sutil arrested

(GMM) Former Formula 1 driver Adrian Sutil has been arrested in a coordinated international police operation, with Bild newspaper revealing that investigators are accusing the 42-year-old of serious fraud and embezzlement.

According to the German newspaper, raids took place simultaneously at Sutil’s properties in Monaco, Switzerland and Sindelfingen, with officers from the Stuttgart State Criminal Police arresting him in Germany on Thursday morning.

He was then taken to a local court, where a judge executed an already-issued arrest warrant.

The Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office has confirmed only that multiple properties were searched in cooperation with state investigators, declining to reveal details of the charges.

Bild’s sources, however, cite suspicion of “aggravated joint fraud and joint embezzlement” linked to luxury-car dealings in Monaco and Switzerland.

Sutil disappeared from the public spotlight after ending his F1 career in 2014, but regularly attracted attention for his ultra-high-end car collection, with Auto Hebdo reporting earlier this year that his garage included a Bugatti Chiron, Pagani Zonda, Ferrari Enzo and several Koenigsegg models, among others.

He is also no stranger to legal trouble – in 2012 he received an 18-month suspended sentence for injuring Lotus investor Eric Lux with a champagne glass in a Shanghai nightclub.

Authorities have not yet confirmed his latest arrest publicly. The former Force India driver is presumed innocent.