Sir Elton John is seeking damages from the Times for the "insult and injury" caused by two libellous articles that accused him of tax avoidance.

The articles, published 21 June 2012, were entitled "How movie millions are moved offshore" and claimed that accountant Patrick McKenna, of Ingenious Media, had advised him on the secrets of tax avoidance.

The paper printed a four-line apology the next day, acknowledging that McKenna had never been the pop star's accountant, but Sir Elton's lawyers described it as “wholly inadequate”. They claim that the slander has caused him significant distress and is "particularly damaging to the claimant's reputation in the sphere of charity fundraising".

UPDATE 14/08/2012:

Following legal representations by Ingenious, The Times has published an online clarification of their original articles about alleged tax avoidance in the film industry, including the moving of money offshore to avoid tax. The clarification can be found here. It states that:

"...we have been asked to make clear that the film finance partnerships arranged by Ingenious Media, whose CEO is Patrick McKenna, do not offer schemes of this type and they have not been involved in moving money offshore to avoid tax. It was not our intention to make such an allegation and we are happy to make the position clear.”