03.03.2010 0

Real Estate: Russian oligarch ordered to pay lost deposit to Lily Safra

Villa Leopolda Russian loses

A court in Nice has ruled that the cool 39 million euro deposit put down by a Russian nickel magnate on the world’s most expensive property is not reimbursable.

Mikhail Prokhorov launched his quest to buy the fabulous Villa Leopolda, built by the Belgian king Leopold II in the early 1900s and set on a 2,700 sqm plot of land above Villefranche, in 2006. Owner Lily Safra, widow of billionaire banker Edmond Safra who died in a fire in his Monaco apartment in 1999, finally agreed to sell in August 2008.

A “compromis de vente” (sale agreement) was signed for a record 390 million euros and the usual 10% deposit paid. Mrs Safra had even moved her priceless art collection and dismissed the villa’s 27 staff when the young billionaire changed his mind as the world economic crisis started to bite.

Mrs Safra said after the verdict that she would be donating the money to a number of charities. CL

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