Sean Connery faces court accused of profiting from £3m loan to former friend

Sean Connery is being investigated over claims he made millions from a loan deal struck with a friend - reports the Daily Mail.

The James Bond actor is alleged to have lent the French businessman £3million to help him buy property.

But when their friendship soured Sir Sean is said to have sold off at a massive profit the assets Jean René had offered him as security.

European newspapers claimed yesterday that Connery had effectively charged an interest rate of 1,000 per cent.

Swiss detectives have visited the 78-year-old actor in the Bahamas, where he is a tax exile, and he has been summoned to a court in Geneva next week.

The collateral Mr René had offered - and Sir Sean allegedly sold - included properties on the French Riviera, shares and diamonds.

Mr René died in Switzerland in 2002 and his family have begun legal proceedings to recover the profits from the sales. They say the sale prices vastly exceeded the value of the original loan.

'Neither the diamonds nor the property were Mr Connery's to sell,' said Ricky Galliano, a spokesman for the family.

'The loan was being paid back in the proper fashion and there was no reason for Mr Connery to get rid of the guarantees.

'The family is asking for all profits from the diamonds and property to be handed back, together with any other items used as loan guarantees.'

The loan is believed to have been made in the early 1970s, before the men fell out in 1978.

Sir Sean, who is said to be worth £170million, sold the assets at an unknown, later date.

Mr Galliano said they were worth around £10million in the early 1980s and would now be worth at least £50million.

It is not known how much Sir Sean sold them for, he said.

Mr René, who was known as JR to family and friends, became friends with Sir Sean through the actor's wife, Micheline.

'They were often in the South of France together - enjoying the sun, sea and good life,' said Mr Galliano.

'Micheline was particularly close to JR and his wife and Mr Connery was more than happy to help out with JR's business

plans. The 1970s were a time when land prices in the South of France had not yet boomed.

'JR wanted to buy up as much land as he could and then build property on it.

'Lots of people were doing this at the time and Mr Connery saw no problem with getting involved.

'However, when JR and Mr Connery fell out, their business arrangements were affected. Mr Connery appeared to take advantage of JR's illness, offloading all the deposits on the loans.

'He wanted a bigger slice of what JR had made by building property on the land.'

Mr Galliano said the case would be very expensive with total legal fees of at least £10million.

A source at the Palais de Justice in Geneva said: 'Mr Connery has been summoned to appear in a case dealing with a defaulted property loan. He is due to appear next week.'

The source admitted however there was no guarantee that Sir Sean would attend the hearing.

The Scottish-born actor is known for keeping a tight rein on his finances, once even refusing to sign autographs because they could be sold on at a profit.

In 1977 he sued Allied Artists, for whom he had starred in The Man Who Would Be King, for £63,000. The case sent the film studio under and Sir Sean later said: 'I bankrupted them.'

In the early 1980s he also sued Kenneth Richards, his former financial adviser, winning £2.8million in damages and bankrupting him too.

After the case, he told one reporter: 'I would have been far happier if I could have kicked him all over the place.'

By the end of the 1980s, Sir Sean was launching an average of three legal actions a year, the largest of which was the $225million lawsuit against United Artists for unpaid royalties.

The case was eventually settled out of court.

Last night a spokesman for the actor's LA publicist said: 'We are looking into it.

'Neither Sir Sean nor anyone else is aware of it.'

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