'Ungrateful' lover must hand back Van Cleef & Arpels inheritance But it ordered Schiffer to forfeit his inheritance for "ingratitude," which can be argued in French law when the beneficiary has been found to have been guilty of abuse and offences against the benefactor. Schiffer told the court in Versaille that their affair was a "great passion" and that he and "Lulu" lived a "very amorous and pleasant life" together. Yet in 2008 he was sentenced to three years in jail for stealing paintings and abuse of weakness for convincing Kléné to lavish "sumptuous expenditure" on him between 2001 and 2004. He was also ordered to pay €3.3 million (£2.74 million) in compensation to Kléné's children. She had paid for the villa on the Riviera where they lived, expensive holidays and parties as well as a Jaguar and a Rolls-Royce. Today, he is no longer in the succession. He will do no more damage," said the family's lawyer, Yves-Marie Ravet, after Tuesday's ruling. The relationship ended in 2004 when Kléné's daughter brought her ailing mother to live with her in her Paris flat. They abducted her from me. I never saw her again. I learned of her death (in 2009) while I was in prison," Schiffer told the court. The Swiss luxury goods group Richemont bought Van Cleef & Arpels in 1999.