Chelsea owner accepts libel damages La Repubblica

02-04-2010

Roman Abramovich, the Russian owner of Chelsea Football Club, has accepted considerable libel damages, as well as a formal excuse at London’s High Court from Italian newspaper La Repubblica last Thursday.

Serious gambling problem

John Kelly, Abramovich’s counsel, stated before the hearing that the false allegations in the Italian newspaper regarding a serious gambling problem, have resulted in ‘embarrassment and distress’.

La Repubblica

The lawsuit was the result of claims in La Repubblica, the Italian daily general-interest newspaper, in May 2009 in a story with the headline ‘A black year for Abramovich as he loses a yacht at poker’.

Chelsea owner Abramovich

Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, the newspaper’s publisher, apologized in a brief hearing last Thursday before Justice David Eady and agreed to pay damages, which Abramovich plans to donate to charity. The amount of the damages was not revealed.