Trade in luxury cars
Ex-Formula 1 driver in custody – company in the area insolvent
Updated on January 13, 2026 – 8:11 a.mReading time: 3 minutes
Ex-Formula 1 driver Adrian Sutil traded luxury cars. He has been in custody since the end of last year, and now a company with which he is closely connected has gone bankrupt.
He once did his rounds in Formula 1, but now his name is at the center of an economic scandal: Adrian Sutil has been in custody since the end of November. Now a company in his environment – DS Motoren GmbH – is insolvent. This is what “WirtschaftsWoche” reports.
The business model of DS Motoren GmbH from Grünwald near Munich is described in the annual report for 2023 as follows: It is about investments “in mobile assets, consisting of vehicles in the luxury segment”. These are strictly limited models from manufacturers such as Bugatti, Ferrari, Pagani, Koenigsegg, Mercedes and Porsche. Vehicles with individual values in the millions.
The bankruptcy is closely related to proceedings against the former Formula 1 driver Sutil. The Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office accuses the 42-year-old of joint fraud in a particularly serious case and joint embezzlement. Sutil was arrested at the end of November. He has been in custody ever since.
Luxury vehicles are suspected to have been used as collateral several times. Sutil’s lawyer Dirk Schmitz said his client denied the allegations and was cooperating with the investigative authorities. The presumption of innocence applies.
The former racing driver argued that “no economic damage was caused to third parties.” The pre-trial detention was ordered because Sutil does not have a residence in Germany, but in Monaco. In addition, Sutil himself became the “victim of a major financial crime in the European environment”.
The allegations against Sutil have now apparently led to the bankruptcy of DS Motoren. “The business model of DS Motoren GmbH was based on trading in extremely rare vehicles with individual values in the millions,” said insolvency administrator Alexander Zarzitzky. The business was financed through banks and leasing companies. The aim was to resell the property profitably after increasing its value.
Sutil’s name opened doors – even without an official role in the company. “Adrian Sutil is a board member of the Liechtenstein-based AS Motoren AG and therefore the parent company of the insolvent DS Motoren GmbH,” Zarzitzky is quoted by “WirtschaftsWoche”.
The managing director was an external manager who filed for bankruptcy after Sutil’s arrest. Sutil’s lawyer criticized the approach. The request was unnecessary. A “standstill agreement” could have been agreed with creditors and the vehicles could have been sold gradually – without losses for the creditors. Such a solution is still conceivable for the parent company. This is not yet insolvent.
What happens next at DS Motoren GmbH also depends on the refurbishment. “My tasks in the coming months will include clarifying the ownership of the vehicles and working through the contractual and financial structures in a robust manner,” said Zarzitzky. If proceedings were to be opened, the task would then be to “make the best possible use of the debtor’s assets”.