Former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi lost an appeal against paying €2mn ($2.2mn) as monthly alimony to his ex-wife Veronica Lario, the ANSA news agency and other media reported yesterday.
Berlusconi, 80, is a billionaire who made his fortune in the media and construction business before entering politics in 1994.
He and former B-movie actress Lario married in 1990, split in 2009 and were officially divorced five years later.
Italy’s highest legal body, the Court of Cassation, confirmed the validity of the €2mn monthly sum Lario was awarded as a temporary living allowance, valid for the period during which she was separated, but not yet divorced.
Had Berlusconi won the case, he would have been entitled to claim some money back from his ex-wife.
As part of the divorce settlement, the living allowance for Lario has been reduced to €1.4mn per month, starting from 2014.
Berlusconi is also trying to have that sum reduced, with a separate appeal that is pending.
Lario, 60, broke off the marriage with Berlusconi after a newspaper revealed that the then-prime minister had attended the 18th birthday party of a sometime lingerie model who reportedly called him “daddy”.