Drunk-driving Lottery Winner Tries To Bribe Cop
Tue Aug 18, 10:16 AM
BORDEAUX, France (AFP) - A French EuroMillions lottery winner has been found guilty of trying to bribe traffic police after they caught him drunk at the wheel of a souped-up Ferrari, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Pascal Brun, a 39-year-old former butcher who began collecting Italian sportscars after scooping a 26-million-euro (37-million-dollar) jackpot in 2004, was nabbed on France's Atlantic coast near Bordeaux Saturday, local media reported.
Police noticed the millionaire seemed heavily drunk after asking him to move his yellow Ferrari, which was badly parked near the seafront.
A breathalyser test showed him to be four times over the limit, Sud Ouest newspaper said.
Brun, who has already lost his licence once for drunk-driving a Ferrari, invited the two traffic wardens to his house for an aperitif -- and offered each of them 1,000 euros to turn a blind eye, the paper said.
Convicted of drunk-driving and of trying to corrupt a public official, the millionaire was on Monday handed a six-month jail sentence, including three suspended, and ordered to pay 500 euros in damages to each police officer.
The punishment still has to be reviewed by a sentencing magistrate, and Brun's lawyer plans to ask for his client to be made to wear an electronic tag instead of going to jail.
His driving licence was revoked again and the court impounded his car, a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.
In Brun's defence, lawyer Pierre Blazy said he been increasingly lonely since his lottery win, and that cars were his "only passion".
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