A German court ruled on Tuesday that Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone can pay a $US100 million ($A108.2 million) settlement to end his bribery trial.
Now likely to stay at the F1 helm, the 83-year-old struck an accord with prosecutors on the huge payment which then received the Munich tribunal's blessing.
"The proceedings will be temporarily suspended with the agreement of the prosecution and the accused," pending payment of the settlement within one week, the judge said.
The $100 million payment is reportedly the largest of its kind in German criminal justice history, with $99 million to go to the Bavarian state coffers and $1 million to a "child hospice foundation".
Ecclestone had been asked whether he could make the payment within a week, to which he replied: "Yes".
Ecclestone went on trial in April on charges of paying $US44 million ($A47.6 million) to Bavarian bank executive Gerhard Gribkowsky in 2006-07 to help maintain his four-decade grip on Formula One.
A settlement is allowed in German criminal cases if prosecutors, aggrieved parties and the court agree, but the Ecclestone deal has stoked fierce criticism.
Court spokesman Andrea Titz said the judges had determined that a conviction was "not particularly likely" based on the evidence presented so far. Proceedings had been scheduled to last at least until October.
Under the terms, Ecclestone will not have a criminal record and should be able to retain his control of the multi-billion-dollar F1 empire.
He has attended most of the hearings and arrived at the courthouse on Tuesday in a limousine, looking relaxed and accompanied by his young wife Fabiana Flosi.
There was angry condemnation of the legal proviso that allowed defendants to "buy" a dismissal in some instances.
Former justice minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger had earlier blasted the possible Ecclestone deal as galling and "not in harmony with the sense and purpose of our legal practices".
She called on lawmakers to tighten or eliminate - the loophole, designed to expedite cases before overburdened courts, with sums based on the defendant's financial means.
The Sueddeutsche Zeitung lashed out: "the briber is supposed to be washed clean with a spectacular payment.
"The saying goes 'money doesn't stink' but that's wrong here: these millions stink to high heaven."
Top-selling Bild denounced "the bitter impression that not everyone is equal before the law".
Ecclestone had denied any wrongdoing, but could have been jailed for 10 years if convicted.
He was accused of paying Gribkowsky to ensure F1 shares held by BayernLB were sold to Ecclestone's preferred bidder, CVC Capital Partners of Britain - now the sport's majority shareholder.
Ecclestone admitted paying the money but said it was to end blackmail threats that the banker would hand over information about the Briton's tax affairs.
Gribkowsky is serving more than eight years in jail.
CVC Capital had said if Ecclestone was convicted, he would be removed as president and chief executive of Formula One Management.
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