In a story that perfectly encapsulates the changing fortunes of the world’s wealthiest in the past few years; Russian mogul Mikhail Prokhorov has just lost the 10% deposit he paid towards the purchase of Villa Leopolda, for $525 million from Lily Safra, socialite and widow of banker Edmond Safra.
Prokhorov’s offer was accepted in July 2008. At the time Safra’s camp had said that the villa wasn’t for sale but but Prokhorov’s offer was too rich to ignore. The deposit was paid into escrow the same month by Prokhorov’s holding company, and the sale was due to complete in December 2008.
