Spain’s ex-king Juan Carlos denies giving former lover ‘generous’ US$77 million gift
- In a 2018 letter published on Friday in Spanish media, Juan Carlos said Corinna Larsen never held money on his behalf
- Larsen, who is under probe in Switzerland, said the monarch made this ‘enormously generous gift’ out of ‘gratitude for looking after him’
The Danish-born business consultant Corinna Larsen, who was the former monarch’s lover between 2004 and 2009, has said she received a significant amount of money from Juan Carlos in 2012: 65 million euros (US$77 million), according to Swiss daily La Tribune.
During an interview broadcast on Thursday on the BBC, she said he made this “enormously generous gift” out of “gratitude for looking after him” and because he valued her son.
Larsen, who still uses the surname zu Sayn Wittgenstein from a former German husband, is one of three people under investigation in Switzerland over US$100 million which Juan Carlos received from late Saudi King Abdullah in a Swiss bank account.
Swiss prosecutors suspect the 65-million-euro gift she received from Juan Carlos served to hide what was left of the money he received from the Saudi royal.
If that is the case, and if the money came from illegal activities, she could be liable for the crime of money laundering, which she denies.
