Bribery: large amounts of money were given to organisations who were "totally ineligible or who failed to meet the threshold for eligibility".
But their fines for bribery, which could amount to more than $100 million each, are still supposed to be paid.
As we spoke, in a tall, dark-glass-fronted building he'd bought nearly thirty years ago from the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, Ecclestone was facing the threat of indictment in Germany, on suspicion of bribery in the amount of forty-four million dollars.
The indictment charges the cartel leaders with operating an organization whose members over the last 14 years engaged in murder, kidnapping, torture, drug trafficking, money laundering and bribery to import huge amounts of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico into the United States.
Critics, including leading doctors, say the scheme amounts to "bribery".
What comes next is what, according to Olivier and the NDP, amounts to bribery.
A federal judge on Monday questioned whether foreign governments staying at President Donald Trump's Washington, D.C., hotel amounts to bribery when its done to curry favor with the president.
Doing any one of a number of acts to induce a person to vote or refrain from voting or to reward him for having done so, such as giving or lending money; and giving or procuring an office or employment, amounts to bribery.
Mr Liu's lawyer, Qian Lieyang, said that he had argued for charges to be reduced, as Mr Liu had expressed remorse and argued that around 49m yuan ($8m £5mm) of the amount claimed by the prosecution did not amount to bribery.
