Corinna Larsen: "The king demanded that I give him back the 100 million"

Corinna Larsen, during the 2005 Laureus World Sports Awards, Cordon Press

"Juan Carlos I, his lawyer Dante Canónica and I met on September 16, 2014. The now king emeritus repeated his demand that the gift of 100 million dollars should be returned or made available to him for use," he says. Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein at point 27 of her civil lawsuit for harassment, illegal tracking and defamation against Juan Carlos I in the British High Court of Justice.

"Mr. Canónica was visibly surprised by the demands of his client," says the lawsuit, to which EL PAÍS has had access.

The scenes in this non-fiction novel always take place in the most elegant neighborhoods of London, especially in Myfair. At the Connaught Hotel, General Félix Sanz Roldán, then director of the National Intelligence Center (CNI), met with Corinna, who was living there while her Eaton Square home was being rehabilitated. Sanz Roldán visited her on May 5, 2012, by order, according to the demand, of the then King of Spain. According to the story, Sanz Roldán threatened his integrity and that of his children. Although the general has admitted to having met with Corinna on those dates in the British capital, on the other hand he has denied in court, on January 15, 2021, that he had made threats.

The meeting between Corinna, Juan Carlos I and Canónica, according to the lawsuit, also took place at the Connaugt hotel.

“Canónica said that Juan Carlos I had never told her that the 100 million dollars or 64.8 million euros [transferred to a Corinna account in June 2012] were something other than an irrevocable donation and that he had proceeded to prepare the documents on that basis and that as administrator of the Lucum foundation [whose first beneficiary was Juan Carlos I and the second was Prince Felipe] he would never have authorized the transfer ”.

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According to the version of the ex-lover of Juan Carlos I, "Canónica told her client that it was an irrevocable donation legally speaking and that these funds could not be used for their benefit."

The lawsuit describes what it claims was the reaction of Juan Carlos I. “The defendant was extremely upset with Canónica's advice.

And later that day he called me and told me that the consequences "will not be good" if she refused to do what he wanted.

According to the former lover, Juan Carlos I pressured her "to return the gifts he had given him or the use of the 100 million dollars [the gift from the Lucum foundation] to make payments on his behalf", contrary to the legal advice received .

A couple of weeks after the meeting with Canonica, Corinna learned, according to the complaint, that Juan Carlos I spread false accusations that she had stolen money.

The application brief narrates the circumstances of the last meeting, which took place on March 16, 2019. The lawyers of the ex-lover wrote on March 5, 2019 to King Felipe VI where they informed him of the funds in two foundations where it was listed as the beneficiary [Lucum and Zagatka].

They were proposing a negotiation.

The king delivered the letter to his father, who telephoned Corinna and moved to London on March 16, 2019. "Corinna was fearful and arranged for security officers to be on the premises of her home," the lawsuit states.

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Did Corinna report or report the alleged illegal monitoring and surveillance? According to the lawsuit, in September and October 2018 he verbally informed the British intelligence service. And in August 2019 he did so in writing, where he requested intervention to stop the open and covert action of the CNI agents in London.

Corinna relates in her lawsuit that during Juan Carlos I's convalescence, following a lung cancer operation in mid-2011, the king told her that he was thinking of ordering his will and that he wanted to leave an inheritance for her and her family after his death.

“But he was concerned that his family would question anything he left her in the will.

And he started giving her gifts: works of art, sculptures, jewelry and a financial contribution for her London apartment, ”he writes in the lawsuit.

"He proposed to me to marry several times"

From the first page of the lawsuit, what Corinna calls the "romantic relationship" between her and Juan Carlos I is present, a bond that she decided to break when she learned in 2009 from her lover, according to the story, that their relationship it was not exclusive. That is to say, the king had another in addition to the one he had with her and being married to Queen Sofia.

"In early 2012 [six months before transferring the $ 100 million] Juan Carlos I tried to persuade me to resume the relationship and even proposed to marry [me] on several subsequent occasions, which was rejected," the lawsuit says. The ex-lover has already said that Juan Carlos I traveled to Germany to visit his father Finn Bönning Larsen and ask for his daughter's hand.

Corinna, after breaking with the emeritus king, maintained the friendship relationship, as detailed in the lawsuit she has presented, due to the affection that had been created with her son Alexander - who knew Juan Carlos I as a child - and because of the problems of health that the monarch was going through then.