The society photographer and artist accused of exploiting his relationship with L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt is to keep gifts from her worth around €300 million, according to lawyers.

Ms Bettencourt’s daughter had accused 63-year-old François-Marie Banier of manipulating France’s richest woman, a frail 88-year-old, and extorting €1 billion from her, but she agreed on Monday to drop a lawsuit against him.

Mr Banier’s lawyer Pierre Cornut-Gentille said that his client had agreed to accept no further gifts from Bettencourt and to be written out of two life insurance policies in which he had been named as her beneficiary.

He said Mr Banier would hold on to those gifts he had already received, which are reported to be mainly in the form of valuable art works.

“These donations certainly don’t represent €1 billion. This figure is a total and disproportionate fantasy,” he insisted.

Ms Bettencourt’s lawyer Pascal Wilhelm estimated the value of the gifts at €300 million, adding that the value of the two life insurance policies was around €600 million.

Had Mr Banier held on to the policies, therefore, he would have brought the total value of his relationship with the heiress close to the €1 billion that the daughter, Françoise Meyers-Bettencourt, had alleged.