The owner of Chelsea Football Club, an English Premier League football club, has today accepted a libel payout from a newspaper that published false claims that the Russian billionaire has a “bad gambling problem”.

Roman Abramovich was reported to have been playing a game of poker with a number of wealthy friends when he fell into a hand that he just couldn’t fold, apparently betting his luxary yacht which is worth half a million euros.

The claims have been rejected by the Russain billionaire and with the story going to press, the football club owner feels that the story shows him in a bad light and so pressed for damages from the newspaper company.

The club owner’s lawyer John Kelly told the court house that the story has caused the wealthy businessman “distress and embarrassment” and that was the grounds for the businessman to push for a libel payout.

The report that was published in the paper didn’t stop at just revealing that the Russian had bet his yacht as John Kelly reveals “The report also alleged that Mr Abramovich’s poker playing had led to a crisis with his long-term partner Dasha Zhukova and that Mr Abramovich was now gambling online.”

Kelly went on to say:

“Regrettably, these allegations were not put to Mr Abramovich or his representatives before publication. If they had been, the defendant would have been advised of the utter falsity of the allegations.”

The solicitor for the defence told the judge that her client accepted that the allegations were untrue and should not have ever been published.

Surely if your going to create a story about a famous and well respected businessman playing poker and losing you would create an amount that he couldn’t afford after earning a days interest?

Come on La Repubblica, get a grip!

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Tags: Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich, Russian billionaire

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