Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the billionaire media mogul who owns about 7% of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is being investigated in Spain on allegations that he "drugged and sexually assaulted a young model on a yacht on the Mediterranean island of Ibiza" in 2008.

The investigation was initially launched—apparently with no press coverage—in 2008, and closed last year for lack of evidence. But a Spanish court recently reinstated the inquiry after the alleged victim, at the time a 20-year-old fashion model, appealed. According to a copy of the order reinstating the investigation obtained by the Associated Press, local police obtained a semen sample after the woman complained, and a sample of her blood contained traces of a sedative.

Bin Talal issued a statement denying the accusations, claiming that he hadn't been to the island in question in more than a decade and wasn't aware of the investigation until reporters asked him about it this week. It doesn't sound like something a Saudi prince would do, does it?

[Image via AP.]