Formula 1 News

Max Mosley was warned more than once of plan to discredit him 

According to reports, before even getting caught in the sex scandal with five prostitutes, FIA President Max Mosley had been warned at least three times of the existence of a plan to destroy his reputation. Dean Attew, an intelligence consultant, who among others is friend and former colleague with FOM chief Bernie Ecclestone, told The Times that he personally warned Mosley. Attew explained that he was contacted two months before the News of the World revelation, in January, by someone looking to discredit the President of the FIA.

“I received a call from a friend in January this year,” Attew was quoted as saying The Times. “We had a meeting and I was told there was an open budget to effectively go out and source material that would bring Max to his knees, remove him from office, and discredit him publicly. The person contacted me because they knew of my relationship with Bernie, but they didn’t know of my relationship with Max. The reason they contacted me was to find out whether I had any loyalty to Max, and whether I knew anything of value.”

“I asked ‘are you after Max, the FIA, or Bernie?’ They came back a little while later and said they weren’t going to pursue it for the time being. I sat down with Bernie and told him what I’d heard,” continued Attew. “Bernie then told Max, I know this because Max later confirmed it to me. I assumed the warning would be taken seriously. It was clear that Max disregarded the advice and failed to realise his vulnerability. The issue for me was his total disregard for genuine advice from individuals that he knew had his best interests at heart.”

“I asked Bernie if there was anything anyone was going to find out about Max and he said ‘you’re not going to find anything because there’s nothing there, he’s Mr Boring in that sense’. Mosley had kept this a good secret. I hear people suggesting Bernie was behind this, but that’s ridiculous,” said Attew. “From the very first indication, Bernie and I, with Max’s knowledge, have tried to find out who was the source. When we saw what was in the News of the World, Bernie was as flabbergasted as I was.”