The 69-year-old, who had last month hinted he might go back on an earlier decision to stand down, revealed his decision in a letter to FIA members.

"I have decided to reconfirm my decision - I will not be a candidate in October," Mosley wrote.

Mosley has endorsed former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt as his successor. Yes, because luckily Todt's won't, you know, be rooting for any one team, right? Oh wait, yeah, he might be.

We've received a copy of the letter from FIA and have republished images of the scanned PDF file below along with a quick biography on Mosley. Click next to read through the whole shebang.

Max Rufus Mosley (born 13 April 1940) is president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide. The FIA is also the governing body for Formula One and other international motorsports.

A former barrister and amateur racing driver, Mosley was a founder and co-owner of March Engineering, a successful racing car constructor and Formula One racing team. He looked after legal and commercial issues for the company between 1969 and 1977. In the late 1970s, Mosley became the official legal adviser to the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA), the body which represents Formula One constructors. In this role he drew up the first version of the Concorde Agreement, which settled a long-standing dispute between FOCA and the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), the then governing body of Formula One. Mosley was elected president of FISA in 1991 and became president of the FIA, FISA's parent body, in 1993. Mosley has identified his major achievement as FIA President as the promotion of the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP or Encap), a European car safety performance assessment programme. He has also promoted increased safety and the use of green technologies in motor racing. In 2008, stories about his sex life appeared in the British press. Despite the controversy, Mosley retained his position.

Mosley is the son of Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), and Diana Mitford. He was educated in France, Germany and Britain before going on to attend university at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in physics. In his teens and early twenties Mosley was involved with his father's post-war political party, the Union Movement (UM). He has said that the association of his surname with fascism stopped him from developing his interest in politics further, although he briefly worked for the Conservative Party in the early 1980s. [via Wikipedia]

Photo Credit: Paul Gilham / Getty Images Sport

[via FIA]

[via FIA]

MSNBC reports the tabloid was sued for invasion of privacy, with Mosley saying that, yes, he did have sexual relations, but that there were no Nazi overtones, and besides, the whole thing was just some good, clean fun in someone's basement. Good, clean fun involving throwing down with hookers and whips. We're still wondering what Max thinks is dirty fun. But we digress: Judge David Eady ruled in Mosley's favor, ordering the News of the World to pay $120,000 in damages. Which should, in turn, keep London's Nazi fetish hooker community busy. [MSNBC]

The agent has been fired, of course, if only for the fact that the head of MI5 had to have a meeting to tell PM Gordon Brown that they weren't involved in the Nazi-style sex orgy. This also ties in weirdly to Mosley's father, the infamous British fascist, who was spied on and turned in by MI5. This is totally going to turn Mosley's Nixon-esque persecution paranoia, clearly on display in Mosley's letter to the FIA, up to 11. We can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. Thanks to all the sick, sick individuals who sent in tips [The Times]

The audio stream has Mosley talking like ze Germans he seemingly fantasizes about — except since his understanding of the German language is at about the ninth-grade high school level, he ends up talking mitt ze accent zan mitt ze German vords. That's right, he says some lines which we're sure will now become classic, like:

"Ze need more of ze punishment I think."

"You are doing good job. Zank you."

The orgy characterized by NOTW as having a "Nazi theme" took place on Friday at a $4 million apartment-cum-dungeon near Mosley's home in London's upscale Chelsea neighborhood.

As President of FIA, Mosley is responsible for overseeing international motor sports, including Formula One. He enjoys a close relationship with F1 Supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Mosley's father Oswald was a notorious fascist and Hitler supporter. Max has been controversially linked to his father's beliefs.

Kicking off the orgy by playing a detainee, Mosley had both his genitals and head inspected for lice, in a way reminiscent to portrayals of incoming concentration camp detainees, before lying to the hookers to purposefully bring about a severe beating. After the session ended, the girls enjoyed a glass of wine. Mosley was offered one as well, but turned it down in favor of a cup of tea. It's not known what ramifications this will have on Mosley's career or the sport he governs. [Via News Of The World]

UPDATE:Mosley got to keep his job despite acknowledging he participated in an encounter with sex workers in a basement apartment in London. On top of that, Mosley also headed to the UK courts to claim characterizations of Nazi overtones by NOTW were completely invalid, and even if they were valid, it was done in the privacy of someone else's home.

UK High Court judge David Eady apparently agreed on both of those counts. In a ruling hailed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury as a 'dangerous precedent' undermining public morality, the News of the World must now pay Mosley $120,000 in damages, plus legal costs of an estimated $1.7 million, for making the claim. Thanks to legal threats from Mosley's attorneys waving about Eady's ruling, we've removed the NOTW video from our own site, or else face similar attacks on our own free speech.