Corona Founder Did Not Make Everyone In His Hometown A Millionaire

The tale of billionaire Antonino Fernandez, the Corona brewery founder who died earlier this year with no descendants and left behind enough money to make everybody in his hometown a millionaire, would have been a perfectly heart-warming holiday story, but unfortunately it turns out not to be true at all, despite previous reports to the contrary.

According to The Local, Fernandez did pass away at the end of August. He was 98 at the time and had no children, and The Daily Mail reported last week that Fernandez had left more than two million dollars to every person in his tiny hometown of Cerezales del Condado in Spain. That was not true, though. Fernandez had 12 siblings and plenty of nieces and nephews, and he actually left around $200 million to them.

The people from the town were bewildered by the story that they were all suddenly millionaires, but several said that they were deeply grateful to all Fernandez had done for the town during his lifetime. He paid for the rebuilding of the town's church, and paid to have running water service in every house in the village. Thanks to his patronage, the town says it is much better off than it used to be, and is one of the more developed towns in the area. Fernandez reportedly continued to visit during his life, and his siblings and their children still do.