Connery wins battle over £2.8m loan to friend

Peter Allen13 April 2012

SIR Sean Connery has won a multi-million-pound court battle over a business deal which turned sour.

Judges in Geneva today ruled there was no case for Sir Sean to answer after the 78-year-old actor was accused of profiting from jewels and villas which once belonged to a close friend.

Sir Sean had allegedly lent £2.8million to French businessman Jean-René Canela, who died in 2002, to develop property in the Cote d'Azur. In exchange, Mr Canela gave as security a £7million portfolio of gems, property and art.

Mr Canela's family claimed this would now be worth £35million and asked "for all profits from the diamonds and property to be handed back". Sir Sean, who lives in tax exile in the Bahamas, denied any impropriety and his lawyers argued he had paid all his dues.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in