Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has received an apology from book publisher HarperCollins for publishing claims that he purchased the soccer club per instructions from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a 2020 book, British journalist Catherine Belton chronicled Putin’s rise to power and how many of his associates from the former Soviet spy services rose to positions of wealth and influence after he won the top Kremlin job in 1999.
A lawyer for Abramovich had argued in court that passages in the book Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and then Took on the West, published by HarperCollins, were clearly defamatory. Abramovich sued both HarperCollins and Belton.
Abramovich accepted a settlement in the case and on Wednesday a representative released a statement saying he was “pleased that HarperCollins and the author have apologized to Mr. Abramovich and agreed to amend the book, removing several false claims about him.
“These statements lacked evidence and were indeed false. This follows the English High Court’s determination that the book did indeed include several defamatory claims about Mr. Abramovich,” the representative said in the statement.
“In total, amendments resulting in the deletion or addition of over 1,700 words have been agreed. As Mr. Abramovich stated when issuing his claim earlier this year, its sole purpose was to refute the false allegations published regarding his name and have them corrected, including the false statements made about the nature of the purchase and activities of Chelsea Football Club.”