**Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has accepted substantial libel damages over false newspaper allegations that he had a serious gambling problem.**The Russian billionaire also accepted a public apology at the High Court in London.
The legal action arose out of allegations published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica last May.
The amount of the payout was not revealed in court but Mr Abramovich’s solicitor said it would go to charity.
Lawyer John Kelly told a judge in London that the claims had caused the “internationally well-known and wealthy” Russian businessman “distress and embarrassment”.
The offending article had been headlined, ‘A black year for Abramovich as he loses a yacht at poker’.
Sarah Toolan, solicitor for La Repubblica’s publisher, Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, said the defendant “offers its sincere apologies to Mr Abramovich for the distress and embarrassment this article has caused”.
She told the judge: “The defendant accepts that the allegations are untrue and ought never to have been published.”