BBC, Time, and… us: the £169m Corona story that wasn’t quite true

Turns out some things are just too good to be true.

In recent days, various news outlets including the BBC, Time Magazine, The Telegraph, The Independent, and (ahem) SHEmazing! reported on one businessman's final gesture towards the residents of his hometown in north west Spain.

According to numerous international reports, the founder of Corona beer, Antonino Fernandez, had bequeathed his £169 million fortune to the people of Cerezales del Condado.

Unfortunately, it has, this afternoon, been confirmed that reports surrounding Antonino's exceedingly generous gesture had been inflated.

While the businessman, who passed away at the age of 92, left a substantial sum of money to his hometown and facilitated the funding of churches and cultural institutions, he did not leave money to individual residents of the village.

Commenting on the reports circulating internationally, Lucia Alaejos from the Fundación Cerezales Antonino y Cinia explained that while Antonini was known for his contributions over the course of his lifetime, the current reports are inaccurate.

"It seems someone got the wrong end of the stick and the story has just grown and grown," she told the Local Spain. "It’s got completely out of hand. The villagers won’t be sharing in that inheritance directly."

Well, there you have it.

Apologies to anyone who spent the morning imagining how they might spend that kind of dosh…