A German court has agreed to end the bribery trial of Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone in exchange for a $100m (£60m) payment from him.
Mr Ecclestone’s offer was based on an existing provision in German law.
Earlier on Tuesday German prosecutors accepted the offer from the 83-year-old billionaire who dominates motor racing.
He went on trial in April, accused of paying a German banker 33m euros (£26m; $44m) to ensure that a company he favoured could buy a stake in F1.
He denies wrongdoing.
The ruling means he walks free from the district court in Munich and can continue running the sport. It also means Mr Ecclestone is found neither guilty nor innocent.
His personal wealth is put at $4.2bn by Forbes, which ranks him as the 12th richest UK billionaire.
If found guilty he could have faced a 10-year jail term and the end of his decades-long dominance of motor racing.
A BayernLB banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, was allegedly paid by Mr Ecclestone to ensure the F1 stake was bought by a company that he favoured, so that he would remain in charge of the sport.
Gribkowsky was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in 2012 for accepting bribes.
Mr Ecclestone says the payment was given to Gribkowsky after the banker threatened to make false claims about the F1 boss’s tax status.
Prosecutors said Mr Ecclestone’s advanced age and other mitigating circumstances gave grounds to accept the $100m offer.