Lebedev ‘to sue’ Forbes over Rich List losses

After buying the London Evening Standard, the Russian billionaire and former KGB spy Alexander Lebedev has let slip his high opinion of the press by accusing Forbes magazine of precipitating the world financial crisis. He made the comments as he revealed that he intends to sue the American magazine for claiming that he lost $2.5bn in the global financial crisis.

The slight came in the Forbes rich list, which estimated Lebedev's fortune at a considerably lower level than it had in the past - dropping from $3.1bn last year to below $1bn this year. "Forbes magazine claimed that I lost $2.5bn in the global financial crisis," Lebedev raged to the Russian news agency, Interfax. "That's absurd. I will demand compensation of material and moral damage caused by this defamation.”

He went on: "I am positive that Forbes magazine, which has repeatedly posted wrong information about me and some others, must be held responsible for the world financial and economic crisis."  He explained that the magazine has been "inflating the false bubble of billionaires for too long. The bubble blew up and struck a blow to the finance and economy of many developed countries."

The legal threat is the culmination of a long-running feud with Forbes. The oligarch says he has often written to the editor asking to be removed from the rich list and has accused the magazine of including assets bought on credit in its figures. Lebedev's purchase of the Standard would not have made much of a dent in his fortune - he paid just £1 for the paper. ·