Hong Kong feng shui master Ton Chan has lost what the court called a “thoroughly dishonest” appeal for the fortune of late tycoon Nina Wang, the BBC reports.
Tony Chan had based his claim to the fortune – worth an estimated $4.2bn (£2.8bn) – on a will dated 2006.
Last year a judge ruled in favour of a 2002 will which left the fortune to Mrs Wang’s family.
Mr Chan’s appeal against the ruling “abused the process of the court”, the appeal court said.
He had claimed the will granting the fortune to her family had been forged; instead, questions have been raised about the quality of the will on which Mr Chan had based his claim.
Mr Chan was arrested a year ago on forgery charges but released on bail.
Chan said during the trial last year that he and Wang were in love, sharing a passion for cooking, travel, model helicopters and feng shui — the Chinese art of arranging objects and choosing dates to improve luck.
The trial judge, however, described the 51-year-old former bartender as an opportunist who knew how to ingratiate himself with others.
Wang died of cancer in 2007.
There was no immediate word from Chan’s lawyers on whether he would take his case to Hong Kong’s highest court, the Court of Final Appeal.
Chan met Wang when she consulted him in an attempt to find her husband Teddy, who was kidnapped in 1990 and never found. Teddy Wang was declared legally dead in 1999.
The New York Times recently reported some Feng Shui practitioners, worried that their profession may be falling into disrepute, recently formed a trade association that they hope will uphold quality standards and public confidence.
They hope doing so will address fears that greed may be debasing the practice of feng shui, the Chinese system of geomancy by which the auspicious positioning of objects is believed to ensure harmony, health and fortune.