A French court ruled Monday that Onexim Group chief Mikhail Prokhorov had no right to a 39.4 million euro ($53.3 million) deposit that he made to buy Villa Leopolda, a mansion in Nice, RIA-Novosti reported.
The property is owned by Lily Safra, widow of billionaire banker Edmond Safra. She refused to return the 10 percent deposit after Prokhorov decided to back out of a preliminary deal to buy the mansion, which was built by Belgium's King Leopold II in 1902, the report said.
A lawyer for Prokhorov, Denis Shemla, said he did not know whether Prokhorov would appeal the court's ruling, the news agency reported. A final signing ceremony for the 8-hectare mansion overlooking Cape Ferrat had been planned for Jan. 20.
An adviser to Safra was quoted as saying the court ordered Prokhorov to pay an additional 1.5 million euros in damages.
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