According to the German daily Bild Zeitung he is suspected of large-scale fraud and embezzlement. He was arrested on Thursday morning in Sindelfingen, Germany, not far from Stuttgart. At the same time, police also carried out actions in Monaco and Switzerland.
Sutil was active in Formula 1 from 2007 to 2014, but without (too much) success. Sutil competed for Spyker, Force India and Sauber. He is known for the record of most F1 starts without a podium finish (128). His best results include fourth place in the Italian Grand Prix (2009) and fifth places in Malaysia (2010) and Monaco (2013).
Adrian Sutil has previously been discredited
The German previously came under controversy in 2011 after an incident in a nightclub in Shanghai, in which Lotus investor Eric Lux was injured. Sutil received a suspended prison sentence of 18 months and a fine for that incident in 2012. Hamilton, his best friend on the grid at the time, was also present at that club, but was not involved in the incident in which Sutil stabbed Lux in the neck with a broken champagne bottle.
The investigation into the alleged fraud and embezzlement is still ongoing. Further details are expected in the coming days.