Laughter in court as Abramovich backtracks on lavish lifestyle

HELICOPTER trips, smart skiing holidays and plush properties are just a few of the luxuries that changed Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s mind about not imitating a rival’s “extravagant lifestyle”, a London court has heard.

To laughter in London’s Commercial Court, the media-shy owner of Chelsea football club was forced to swallow his words that in 1994 he “was never interested in imitating” the lifestyle of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky.

The list of Abramovich’s skiing holidays in the luxury resort of Courchevel and in Megeve, both in the French Alps, are the latest insights into the lives of Russian-born oligarchs in a £3 billion (€3.4bn) lawsuit.