Italy’s seventh richest man need no longer pay his ex-wife alimony

Italy’s seventh richest man with a wealth estimated at about 7 billion euros Silvio Berlusconi, is back on the rise.

The Italian former prime minister need no longer pay his ex-wife 1.4 million euros ($1.7 million) a month, according to the Milan appeals court on Thursday.

Also, ruling Berlusconi had been unfairly treated in a divorce settlement, the court decided for Veronica Lario, Berlusconi’s wife, to hand back to her ex-husband alimony payments totaling some 60 million euros, saying she had no right to the money.

Veronica Lario, for more than 22 years was Berlusconi’s wife, in 2009 denounced to Italy’s national news agency her husband’s interest in other women.

Following their separation, Berlusconi was embroiled in scandals over his “bunga bunga” parties and convicted of paying to have sex with a 17-year-old minor. The verdict was later overturned when an appeals court said it could not be proved he knew she was underage.

Before their divorce being formalized in 2014 a court awarded Lario alimony of 1.4 million a month but Berlusconi complained it was too high.

A legal source said the Milan judges took into consideration the May Supreme Court ruling which said “divorce settlements need not guarantee spouses their previous standard of living but rather ensure they were financially independent.”

The Judges decided last Thursday that Veronica Lario, who has cash deposits of some 16 million euros as well as jewels and a real estate business, did not need additional monthly income.

Berlusconi’s partner of the last five years is Francesca Pascale, a former television show girl 49 years his junior.