Largest deposit lost

Mikhail Prokhorov (Russia) agreed to pay €390 million ($528.9 million, £353.8 million) for the villa Leopolda de Villefranche-sur-Mer outside Nice, France, in 2008, but withdrew from the sale in 2009, losing his €40 million ($54.2 million, £36.2 million) deposit in the process. The villa was owned by the widow of financier Edmond Safra, who died in an arson fire in 1999; she has agreed to pay the deposit to medical research.