Judge Clears Hélio for Down Under Race

Fri., Oct. 10, 2008 1:27 PM PDT by

Helio Castroneves AP Photo/David Adame

Hélio Castroneves just found a judge that was as easy to sway as Carrie Ann Inaba.

The 2007 Dancing With the Stars champ and former Indy 500 winner appeared in court today and managed to convince a federal judge in Miami to alter the travel-restriction terms of his bail on tax-dodging charges so he can jet to Australia to compete in a race.

The 33-year-old Brazilian-born racer had to surrender his passport last week as part of the conditions of his $10 million bond. Barring an appeal by prosecutors, he will now be allowed to get behind the wheel for the Oct. 26 event in Brisbane.

Last Saturday, Castroneves and teammate Ryan Briscoe won the American Le Mans Series Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. The victory came a day after Castroneves pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and tax-evasion counts.

If convicted, he could face more than 30 years in federal prison.

Read More

Print Share on Facebook Share Comments
filed under top stories, courthouse, dancing with the stars

0 Comments

Now loading...

Add Your Comment!

Guests

E! Online members

Register | Forgot password?

Play nice and have fun. And please, no HTML tags or special characters including [&*#()!@$].
You've got 1000 characters left.

Post Comment

The Big Picture

Fearless, Indeed Taylor strikes her fiercest pose at the BMI Awards, where she snags Song of the Year honors

More Photos
GRAB & SHARE
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.
Click Here

Our Partners

  • Huffington Post

Get Your E! News Now

Text ENEWS to 4INFO (44636) for daily celeb news alerts

Standard messaging rates apply.

Did you know you can grab smokin' hot E! Online news, review and gossip through our RSS service?

New to RSS feeds? Learn more >>

Birthdate:

Enter your full birthdate:

  • Opt in for Breaking News Alerts

has been subscribed to the E! News Now Newsletter.

To change your settings, go to your preferences.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.