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The billionaire and the bullet-proof yacht: How Britain’s biggest divorce settlement is charting new legal waters

Tatyana akhemedova is owed £453m by her former husband but she has had to resort to controversial methods to seek her money.

When Farkhad Akhmedov wrote out a cheque for £230m to buy his friend and fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich’s 337ft yacht Luna in 2014, he acquired a vessel that handsomely met the ocean-going requirements of any self-respecting plutocrat.

Not only does the world’s second largest yacht of its type boast an onboard spa, two heliports, a mini-submarine and lifeboats costing £3m each, it also comes complete with a missile detection system, bomb-resistant doors, bulletproof glass and a device for disabling unwanted drones.

Stormy weather

Quite whether Mr Akhemdov, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russian gas and oil, was expecting bother is unclear but of late he has certainly been experiencing stormy weather.

The threat to Mr Akhmedov and his dazzling array of assets – from the Luna to his Aston Martin to his modern art collection, including a brace each of Warhols and Rothkos – comes not from seaborne brigands but the team of lawyers working on behalf of his ex-wife, Tatyana, a UK citizen who has lived in Britain since 1994. Their job is to recover the £453m which the High Court in London has decided she is owed by way of a divorce settlement – the largest ever ordered by a British court.

Mr Akhmedov, 62, who has been linked by the Trump administration with Russian president Vladimir Putin, has made it abundantly clear he will not make their work easy. The Luna is currently sitting in a dry dock in Dubai in a state of legal limbo after a freezing order made by the British judge overseeing the divorce proceedings was accepted by the courts in the United Arab Emirates.

The order is being challenged by Mr Akhmedov, who insists that the Luna is held by a family trust and that the case against him is political and stems from a British campaign to separate wealthy Russians from their money. He has said he regards the British ruling to be “worth as much as toilet paper”.

Arabian sun

Such is Mr Akhmedov’s determination, he told i  he would rather see the glittering Luna fall apart under the Arabian sun than surrender it to his ex-wife and her lawyers.

A spokesman for the Azerbaijan-born businessman said he and his lawyers would “continue to fight for as long as it takes, and in whatever jurisdiction necessary, to resist what they believe is the English High Court’s misguided and wrong decision”.

The statement added: “If it takes so long that Luna rots in the heat of Dubai then, regrettably, so be it.”

Modern tale

The result is a thoroughly modern tale not only of an extraordinarily wealthy man doing his utmost to avoid paying out 41.5 per cent of the £1.1bn fortune he made during his marriage but also of the method being used by Mrs Akhmedova to obtain what she is owed.

Read more: Divorce laws are ‘out of touch’ and need overhaul Teach children how to be married, says a top divorce lawyer who would know Ministers ‘ready to support divorce law reform’ after Tini Owens denied exit from ‘loveless marriage’

In an example of a type of deal which is becoming increasingly common in the disputes worth tens and hundreds of millions of pounds which come before England’s highest courts, Mrs Akhmedova has sub-contracted the collection of her divorce payment to a third-party company backed by investors looking to secure a profit as its highly-skilled lawyers chase her ex-husband’s riches across locations from Panama to Liechtenstein.

Critics claim the mechanism – known as third-party litigation finance (see panel below) – has grown to the extent that it now threatens to skew the dynamic of the justice system by placing significant impetus behind proceedings on the basis of their potential for financial return as much as serving fairness and remedying grievance.

Statutory regulation

Lord Faulks QC, a former Conservative justice minister, told i : “There could be some really distorting factors. There is a difference between investment in property or in a company and investment in a legal case.

“The interests of the party involved in the litigation may not coincide with the third-party funder, who is making an investment. The question is whether it has gotten out of hand and whether the Government should be doing something about it.”

The peer said he would like to see the Government investigate the practices within third party litigation finance and consider putting the sector’s voluntary regulation on a statutory basis. But he added: “I’m not sure the Government is doing either of those things.”

£10bn in funds

Notwithstanding such concerns, the third-party litigation model has mushroomed in the last 18 months with the launch of 30 separate funds. In total, some £10bn has now been put forward by investors tempted by returns which can be up to four times the original investment in successful cases.

The largest player in this increasingly crowded field is Burford Capital, a London-listed company which last year put $1.3bn (£1bn) into cases – triple the amount it invested in 2016.

Among those investments is the recovery of the Akhmedov divorce settlement.

Tricky assets

In a deal which involves the payment of a lump sum to Mrs Akhmedova, who has yet to see a penny of her share of her ex-husband’s fortune, Burford has undertaken to chase the billionaire’s assets around the globe in return for a portion of the results.

Typically, litigation finance companies charge around 30 per cent of the proceeds, meaning Burford stands to net up to £136m if it can wrest assets including four shotguns made by upmarket gunmaker Holland & Holland and a Damien Hirst work called “Kingdom of Heaven” from Mr Akhmedov’s grip.

Despite being ceded the marital home – a substantial Surrey mansion – Mrs Akhmedova, the daughter of a Soviet-era general who met her ex-husband as a teenager in Moscow before the couple later moved to Britain, doubtless needs the muscle of Burford to untangle Mr Akhmedov’s talent for legal manouevring.

Contempt and concealment

In a ruling in April, the divorce case judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave declared the billionaire in contempt and observed: “It is apparent that [Mr Akhmedov] has taken numerous elaborate steps to conceal his wealth and evade enforcement of the judgment.”

For his part, Mr Akhmedov, who is believed to be currently residing in his native Azerbaijan, insists that his marriage was dissolved in Moscow in 2000 and that until the proceedings before the High Court were launched in 2016 he had lavishly provided for his ex-wife. This, he claims, included two offers of an out-of-court settlement in 2014 and 2015 offering lump sums of up to $50m (£40m) and annual payments of £4m.

The billionaire has, however, previously run into trouble with his version of events. The High Court threw out his claim that there was a divorce in Moscow after the Mr Justice Haddon-Cave found documents supporting the assertion were “at all material times, forged”.

Access to justice

Senior executives in third-party litigation companies insist that in backing class actions or “David v Goliath” legal battles they are widening access to the justice system, albeit at the price of a return on their investment.

Christopher Bogart, Burford’s chief executive, told i  that the company did not directly finance divorce proceedings but was happy to help seek the transnational enforcement of any large court judgment once issued by the English courts.

He said: “People do not generally speaking like to be parted from their money and that applies whether the debt arises from a large divorce case or an obscure financial dispute.

“Nobody can criticise the enforcement of a final court ruling and we can provide the sort of specialised expertise to surmount the challenges now being faced by people being able to hide money around the globe. The justice system is extremely expensive and we can help level that disparity in resources.”

Five per cent of cases funded

Such is the high-end nature of the cases attracting third-party funding that companies typically finance just five per cent of the cases they consider.

In the fraught case of Akhemedova vs Akhmedov it may be some time yet before either Mrs Akhmedova or her backers see their money.

What is third-party litigation financing? Unlike so-called “no-win, no-fee” arrangements between a client and lawyers, third-party financing involves an external investor providing funds to enable a case to proceed. A litigant – ranging from a blue chip company to a divorce claimant – sub-contracts their case to the litigation financing company in return for a share (generally 30 to 50 per cent) of the proceeds if the case is successful. Exponential growth The sector has existed for around a decade but has recently experienced exponential growth as financiers are wowed by handsome returns and a product unaffected by the vicissitudes of the stock market. Because the litigation companies pick and choose which cases to finance, their success rate is likely to be high. In return, the litigant is relieved of the burden of financing their case and is shielded from any costs if the case is lost.

Growth of high value litigation cases

Millions of pounds are being put up by investors in backing a growing number of high-value litigation cases.

In January Noel Edmonds, who is suing Lloyds Banking Group after falling victim to a multi-million pound fraud a decade ago, confirmed he had secured a “seven figure” sum from specialist litigation funder Therium to bankroll his case.

The TV star is seeking compensation of up to £60m over a scam involving staff at the Reading branch of HBOS, which was subsequently bought by Lloyds.

The former Deal or No Deal presenter is pursuing the banking giant over losses he claimed he suffered when his former businesses Unique Group collapsed. Lloyds disputes his claim.

Mr Edmonds welcomed the funding news as “massively significant” for him and other victims. He said at the time: “It is a firm endorsement of my case; Therium do not take on a case where they think there’s a chance of losing.”

It emerged this week that Mr Edmonds had failed in a bid to get Lloyds Bank’s black horse TV ads banned as his legal battle with the banking group became increasingly acrimonious.

Therium, which helps fund lawsuits and then takes a portion of the damages if successful, also brought a legal case against the car giant Volkswagen over vehicle emissions.

In February it emerged that a £300m litigation funding pot had been finalised – indicating that more high-profile lass action lawsuits could be on the way. Previous cases backed by funders have included a shareholder group claim over Lloyds Banking Group over the acquisition of HBOS during the financial crisis and a £100m claim brought by a group of truckers who claimed they were overcharged for their vehicles.

Demand for third party ligitation ‘exceeding expectations’

That claim was being brought last year, it was reported, by a law firm alongside global funder Vannin Capital after the European Commission handed down a fine to a number of truck manufacturers who were found to have operated a 14-year cartel stretching back to 1997.

Separately, hundreds of sub-postmasters secured funding for a class action lawsuit against the Post Office after a 2009 IT fiasco.

Neil Purslow, co-founder and chief investment officer at Therium, said in February that demand for litigation funding had “exceeded expectations”.

Supporters of paying for legal cases with financing rather than hard cash say it marks an economic transformation of the legal industry and reject comparisons with “no win no fee” cases more readily known by the British public.

Opponents say cases are funded based on their likelihood of generating a return rather than on principle and add bring investors’ interests into the proceedings.

New areas of litigation have emerged in the last five years – from high profile divorces to a whole range of class actions.

One case being supported by Harbour Litigation Funding includes seaweed fishermen in Indonesia claiming compensation for alleged damages caused by an oil spill.

Harbour Litigation Funding said on its website about the case: “Without funding, they lack the means to seek justice against the oil company, but with our funds, not only are the lawyers paid, but in the event of a loss, claimants will be protected and will not have to pay the other side’s costs.”

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A Russian Oligarch’s $500 Million Yacht Is in the Middle of Britain’s Costliest Divorce

By David Segal

• June 6, 2018

LONDON — With a spa, a swimming pool, two heliports and room for 18 guests, the Luna is more like a floating luxury villa than a yacht. A crew of 50 keep all nine decks in pristine shape. The lifeboats cost $4 million apiece. Gleaming engines propel the vessel at a maximum speed of 22 knots.

But for now, the Luna isn’t moving. It sits in a dry dock in Dubai, the most fought-over prize in what has been called Britain’s most expensive divorce.

In December 2016, a High Court judge ordered Farkhad Akhmedov, a Russian billionaire who has owned a home in England since the ’90s, to pay the equivalent of $646 million to his ex-wife, Tatiana Akhmedova. He refused, arguing that the couple had been divorced in Russia more than a decade ago.

Unconvinced and unable to enforce his ruling, the judge in April ordered Mr. Akhmedov to hand over the yacht , valued at roughly $500 million, to his ex-wife. It has since been impounded by authorities in Dubai, where it had turned up for maintenance.

For more than a decade, Russian oligarchs have been parking their families and some chunk of their net worth in England. A deal was implied: The oligarchs got a haven from the pitiless realities of Putin-era Russia, and Britain got an influx of very rich people.

Now some oligarchs are learning that life here has hazards of its own. That goes even for nonresidents like Mr. Akhmedov, who never became a British citizen. Eager to keep British tax collectors away from his money, he limited the number of days he stayed in England to a maximum of 180 a year. (More recently, the number was reduced to 90 days.)

In January, he appeared on the “Putin List,” an inventory of business and political elites in Russia, published by the Trump administration. Seven oligarchs — though not Mr. Akhmedov — have since been subject to sanctions that prevent them from conducting business in the United States.

Even the Luna, the ultimate in high-end joy rides, is customized for a man anticipating trouble. It has a missile detection system, an anti-drone system, bulletproof windows and bombproof doors.

None of these features, however, have shielded Mr. Akhmedov from the British justice system, despite the exhaustive efforts of his legal and accounting team. Before arriving in the Middle East, the vessel had been on an epic journey, though one not measured in nautical miles.

As the nine-figure settlement was gaveled into divorce court history, Mr. Akhmedov began what the judge called a “campaign” to hide his assets “in a web of offshore companies.” Nothing demonstrates the breadth and ingenuity of that web like the Luna. Starting in November 2016, the yacht went on a whirlwind voyage, all of it on paper, in a feat of asset protection and financial engineering so elaborate that the judge diagramed it in an April ruling.

Initially, the seizure of the yacht in Dubai sounded like a setback for Mr. Akhmedov. Then, he and lawyers for the family trust that technically owns the Luna filed a claim — still pending — arguing that the fate of the yacht should be decided by a local court in Dubai, using Islamic law, known as Shariah.

Legal experts say Mr. Akhmedov has calculated that his odds of prevailing are better in a Shariah court, especially given that his ex-wife is a Christian who has acknowledged infidelity in their marriage. Stories in British tabloids have lately emphasized that Mr. Akhmedov is a practicing Muslim.

That is news to Ms. Akhmedova. In her first-ever interview, which took place recently in the office of a public relations firm, she said she had never seen her ex-husband kneeling on a prayer rug or going to a mosque, other than at a tourist site.

“Apparently because he was born in Azerbaijan, he’s a Muslim,” she said, her eyes widening with disbelief. (A spokesman for Mr. Akhmedov disputed Ms. Akhmedova’s characterization, saying that Mr. Akhmedov “has always been a devout and practicing Muslim.”)

A sunny woman with a mild Russian accent, Ms. Akhmedova wore ripped denim jeans, a batch of string bracelets and a T-shirt that read “Free as a Butterfly.” She said she was reluctant to speak publicly about her divorce, because everything about it is painful, including the recent media coverage in Britain, which has made much of allegations of infidelity leveled by both sides.

She’s also startled by Mr. Akhmedov’s campaign to keep her from pocketing one cent of his $1.4 billion fortune, most of which he earned selling his stake in a Siberian energy company called Northgas. Contrary to popular assumptions, she said, she needs the money. She is living off a lump sum provided to her by Burford Capital, a litigation finance firm, which is helping to fund the legal efforts and will take a percentage of any results.

“I don’t want to play the victim, because it’s not my nature,” she said. “But I have to defend myself.”

Ms. Akhmedova said she had always wanted to settle out of court, quietly and for far less than she was awarded. She still speaks fondly of the years she spent with her ex-husband, whom she says she met in Moscow in 1989, when she was 17. He was nearly twice her age.

“He was wearing a suit,” she said. “He struck me as a very proper gentleman.”

The two married in 1993 and moved to London. He started off in the fur business, selling sable skins on the London Commodity Exchange. He later pivoted to the natural gas sector and, in 2012, sold his 49 percent stake in Northgas for a reported $1.4 billion.

Over the years, he acquired a summer house in the south of France, two helicopters, vintage cars, fine art — by Rothko, Warhol and others — and a $26 million home in an upscale county outside London.

“We went from flying Aeroflot to British Airways to chartered flights,” said Ms. Akhmedova. Later, they flew on their own $50 million private jet.

During the years that Mr. Akhmedov amassed his wealth, the couple regularly toggled between hostilities and opulent cease-fires. She said she filed for divorce a second time in 2013 — she had rescinded the first petition a decade earlier — when one of her ex-husband’s paramours gave birth to a child.

They nonetheless tried another détente. That same year, Mr. Akhmedov bought more than $500,000 worth of jewelry for his wife, paid expenses for holidays and gave her access to his helicopters and credit cards, according to the judge overseeing the divorce. In 2014, Mr. Akhmedov acquired the Luna, which he purchased from Roman Abramovich , a friend and fellow oligarch. (Mr. Abramovich has had his own troubles with Britain recently, as the country has cracked down on a type of visa given to wealthy investors.)

“It would take four years to build a boat like that,” said Ms. Akhmedova, who helped arrange the sale. “So we thought, why not ask our friend? He’s got two boats, let’s ask him for one.”

Unfortunately, the change in behavior promised by her husband did not occur, she said. And once again, she pushed for divorce.

In 2003, Mr. Akhmedov had produced documents that purported to show that the couple had gotten a divorce from a Moscow court three years earlier. In his version of events, as explained by his spokesman, the marriage lasted a mere seven and a half years and was dissolved on the grounds of Ms. Akhmedova’s adultery. The subsequent time together — from 2000 to 2014 — the gifts and vacations? That was for the sake of the couple’s sons.

“To give them, as the children of divorced parents, the best possible experience of family life, my client also accompanied his ex-wife and children on occasional ‘family’ holidays,” said the spokesman, Ian Monk, in an email.

This narrative portrays Ms. Akhmedova as an opportunist, who pounced when her ex-husband had his billion-dollar payday, in 2012.

“Within a few days of the wealth being realized by my client’s sale of Northgas, Tatiana made her first approach for an English divorce,” Mr. Monk wrote. “My client says that is a second divorce.”

To underscore the point, Mr. Akhmedov refused to participate in the British divorce case, neither appearing in court nor sending a lawyer to the proceedings, which began in November 2015. He told the media that tensions between Britain and Russia would prevent him from getting a fair trial and that he regarded the case as political, part of Britain’s efforts to seize assets from well-off Russians.

Judge Charles Haddon-Cave came to different conclusions. He ruled that the 2000 Russian divorce documents were “forged.” Persuaded by Ms. Akhmedova’s testimony, he concluded that the couple had “remained married in all senses of the word,” until 2013.

Two days before the start of the trial, in November 2016, lawyers and accountants took the helm of the Luna and shuffled it to a handful of companies controlled by Mr. Akhmedov and his allies, in the Isle of Man, Panama and Liechtenstein. It eventually landed in a newly created family trust called Straight, which Judge Haddon-Cave wryly described in a ruling as “the antithesis of its name.”

“In my judgment, it is clear that Straight is simply another ‘cipher,’” he wrote, designed by Mr. Akhmedov “to evade enforcement.”

A few months after the Luna arrived in Dubai for maintenance, the Dubai International Financial Center Courts — which conducts business in English and uses English common law — impounded the vessel.

Lawyers for Mr. Akhmedov and Straight have since filed an appeal with a Dubai entity called the Joint Judicial Tribunal, a seven-member committee created in 2016 and granted the power to decide which court has jurisdiction over a legal proceeding. Mr. Akhmedov contends that his dispute is a matrimonial one, which should be decided by a local Shariah court. He is not looking to relitigate the divorce, his spokesman said. He simply wants a judgment that says the British order to transfer ownership of the yacht cannot be enforced in Dubai.

Predicting how the tribunal will rule is not easy, in part because it has issued only a dozen or so decisions. What is clear is that if Ms. Akhmedova prevails, she will look for a buyer and sell the yacht. It is equally clear that Mr. Akhmedov will litigate this case until he wins or the vessel melts into decrepitude.

“He would rather see the Luna rot in the Dubai heat,” said Mr. Monk, “than see it handed over to Tatiana.”

Editors’ Note June 8, 2018: An earlier version of this articled failed to include a response to Ms. Akhmedova’s comments about her ex-husband’s Muslim faith. The article has been updated to include a response from his spokesman.

An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of one of the countries where Farkhad Akhmedov and his allies controlled companies. It is Liechtenstein, not Lichtenstein

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Russian oligarch calls for EU to return the $460 million superyacht that was once involved in one of the largest divorce settlements in UK history

• Billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov appealed to the EU in an attempt to get his sanctioned yacht back.
• The $460 million yacht is frozen in Germany, but was previously the center of a divorce battle.
• Tatiana Akhmedov had the vessel frozen for two years after the oligarch refused to pay $484 million.

Russian oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov called for the European Union to drop sanctions against him and return his superyacht on Friday, according to a report from The Times.

The EU sanctioned the former Russian politician in April as Russia continued its invasion into Ukraine. At the time, the EU said that the oligarch was "close to the Kremlin" and "a leading businessperson involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation."

On Friday, Akhmedov, who acquired much of his wealth through the gas industry, said he has severed ties to the energy industry and denied any relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, The Times reported.

The Council for the EU did not respond to a request for comment from Insider. Insider was unable to find contact information for Akhmedov.

Last month, the billionaire's 377-foot superyacht, Luna, was frozen in a German port, according to local media outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung. The vessel, which Akhmedov purchased for about $256 million in 2014, is now valued at about $460 million, per Reuters .

It was not the first time that Akhmedov has had to fight for access to his luxury yacht. The vessel — which has 81 TVs, one of the largest swimming pools on a yacht, and a mini-submarine — was once in the middle of one of the largest divorce settlements in the UK.

Related stories

In 2017, a judge ruled that Akhmedov must pay about 40% of his wealth, or around $484 million, after his wife, Tatiana Akhmedov, filed for divorce. Akhmedov has a net worth of about $1.7 billion, according to Forbes.

At the time, the billionaire refused to pay the divorce settlement, leading to a five-year legal battle. Tatiana Akhmedov ordered a team of specialists to seize her former husband's assets — including his superyacht, according to The Times . As a result, the Luna yacht was moored in Dubai for over two years.

In July, the battle came to an end when the couple settled on a payout of about $106 million and about $53 million worth of art — over $75 million of which Tatiana Akhmedov used to pay off the asset hunt, according to Reuters.

The superyacht originally belonged to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and was sold to Akhmedov in 2014 for about $256 million, according to Superyacht Fan. Abramovich is also facing sanctions from several Western countries.

Akhmedov's yacht is not the only vessel to be seized in the port of Hamburg in connection with the Ukraine war. In April, Germany impounded the world's largest yacht, a $735 million vessel that was tied to sanctioned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. The billionaire has also filed an appeal, according to The Times.

Watch: The rise and fall of Russian oligarchs

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By SuperyachtNews 09 Nov 2018

Sharia court vetoes freezing order on 115m M/Y ‘Luna’

The explorer yacht at the centre of the uk’s largest ever divorce dispute is now free to set sail….

Russian oligarch and gas and oil tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov, who has been fighting an acrimonious divorce battle against his ex-spouse, Tatiana Akhmedov, over the 115m explorer yacht, Luna , has been granted permission to recover the vessel by judges in a court in Dubai.

In 2016, the court awarded Ms Akhmedov £453 million ($825 million) for her ‘equal contributions to the welfare of the family’ – the largest sum ever granted for a divorce settlement in the UK. Mr Akhmedov’s refusal to pay this settlement – 41.5 per cent of his fortune, according to sources – led to the court agreeing to a freezing-order on his assets.

Consequently, in October 2017, Luna was detained by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Courts while she was undergoing maintenance in Port Rashid, as judges at a London court sought to enforce the pay-out. She has been under arrest ever since.

In April this year, the judge in a UK court concluded that Mr Akhmedov was taking elaborate steps to ring-fence a number of assets from the UK courts to hide his wealth and evade enforcement – including Luna – restricting Ms Akhmedov’s access to his global assets for her share of the settlement.

The UK court ruled that the yacht should be transferred to Ms Akhmedov, however, judges in Dubai have now ruled that a commercial court in the Arab kingdom has no right to uphold a freezing order enforced by a UK court, and that the vessel belongs to Mr Akhmedov. As part of the decision, Ms Akhmedov has been ordered to pay her ex-husband’s legal fees.

‘Mr Akhmedov is delighted but not surprised by the court decision.’

A spokesperson for Mr Akhmedov has been cited in online media reports as saying, ‘Mr Akhmedov is delighted but not surprised by the court decision in favour of the Akhmedov family trust.

‘He believes the attempts by Tatiana [Akhmedov] and her team, backed for profit by City capital, to tie down family assets around the world are as misguided as the original English High Court was in granting Tatiana a second divorce 16 years after their marriage was validly dissolved in Russia.

‘He believes it is a massive gamble which Tatiana and her backers simply cannot win, and is reassured that the wise judges of Dubai's local courts have seen Tatiana's cynical claims for what they are.’

Judging by the response of a spokesperson for Ms Akhmedov, who said they ‘look forward to the opportunity to scrutinise the court’s reasoning and to consider grounds for appeal,’ the case is ongoing.

Luna  was originally built by Lloyd Werft shipyard in Germany for renowned yacht owner, Roman Abramovich, in 2010. In April 2014, Abramovich sold  Luna  to Akhmedov, a close friend, in a deal worth $360 million, according to an online source. In 2015, she embarked on a remarkable €50 million refit.

According to The Superyacht Intelligence Agency , she was the 20th largest yacht in the world at the time of her delivery and is still widely regarded as one of the most significant explorer yachts on the water. 

If you enjoy The Superyacht Report and SuperyachtNews, you can't miss The Superyacht Forum  next week. The event, held from 12 - 14 November in Amsterdam, features a packed programme of leading industry commentary and market insight. To find out more and secure your place, click here .

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Russian oil tycoon wins back megayacht LUNA in divorce battle

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By Katia Damborsky   2 April 2019

The saga over the ownership of 115m/377ft superyacht LUNA continues, with Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov winning back ownership of his $436 million megayacht in Dubai .

It is being reported that LUNA has been released by a court in Dubai, after she was impounded in the waters of the UAE as part of a freezing order more than a year ago. 

On Wednesday, the Dubai court of appeal declared that the ruling made to impound the yacht was incorrect, and LUNA must be now be released and allowed to leave port. This means that ownership of LUNA now sits with Farkhad Akhmedov.

The freezing order was issued in Britain after Akhmedov did not pay a $594 million divorce settlement to his now-ex-wife Tatiana, claiming the pair were legally divorced in Russia many years earlier. 

In August 2018, YachtCharterFleet reported that Tatiana retained ownership of the yacht after a court in Dubai upheld a ruling made by the London High Court.

However, Akhmdeov’s appeal process has ended in his favour, with the Azerbaijan-born oil and gas tycoon holding now holding ownership of the megayacht.  A spokesperson for Akhmedov has said "Mr Akhmedov is delighted but not surprised by today's court decision in favour of the Akhmedov family trust.”

Mr Akhmedov is delighted but not surprised by today's court decision in favour of the Akhmedov family trust. Spokesperson for Mr. Akhmedov

Luxury yacht LUNA came into the picture in 2014, when she was bought by the oligarch from friend and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich. She holds the crown for the world’s largest expedition yacht, boasting nine decks after an additional one was added in a £50m refit in 2016.

At 115m, she is home to the largest swimming pool on any superyacht in the world, as well as two helipads, a spa, gym and a dance floor. A beach club, a jacuzzi and a tender garage to house a vast array of water toys are among her superb repertoire of amenities. She was launched in 2010 by Lloyd-Werft. 

If you would like to charter an expedition yacht , please get in touch with your preferred yacht charter broker .

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German police raided Russian billionaire’s $320 million megayacht for the second time in a month and seized artwork worth millions of dollars. The 378 feet long vessel is so massive that the police had to take the help of Navy experts to find hidden compartments and doors.

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Russian billionaire’s superyacht given to former wife in divorce case

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A Russian oil billionaire has been ordered by the High Court to transfer a £350m luxury superyacht to his ex-wife in the latest twist in one of Britain’s biggest divorce battles .

The 377-foot Luna , docked in Dubai, is the second-largest expedition yacht in the world, and comes with two helipads, nine decks, a swimming pool and a mini-submarine. It was built for Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, but sold to Farkhad Akhmedov, an Azeri-born billionaire, in 2014.

Mr Akhmedov’s name was included in the so-called ‘Kremlin report’ , a list of 220 Russian politicians and businessmen close to President Vladimir Putin issued by the US Treasury in January. He built up his wealth through Northgas, the Russian energy group, before selling his shares in the company for $1.37bn in 2012.

The billionaire met his wife, Tatiana, while she was studying in Moscow and the couple married and moved to London in 1993. Their marriage ended in 2014 and he was ordered to pay her a divorce settlement of £453.5m — about 41.5 per cent of their £1bn fortune — in December 2016.

Since then, Ms Akhmedov has been involved in litigation around the world to try to enforce the ruling and recover assets belonging to her former husband. The High Court was told earlier this year that he has yet to give her any money.

On Thursday, the High Court in London issued further court orders in favour of Ms Akhmedov. It ruled that Mr Akhmedov “had taken numerous elaborate steps to conceal his wealth”.

Mr Justice Haddon-Cave ruled that Mr Akhmedov “is acting with real impropriety and deliberately seeking to evade his legal obligations” to his former wife and was “concealing his assets in a web of offshore companies”.

He ordered that Luna , which has a capital value of £350m, and which is now “effectively impounded” in Port Rashid, Dubai, should be transferred to her name. The High Court ruling will be taken to the Dubai court, which will decide on implementation of the orders.

When Withers, the law firm representing Ms Akhmedov, discovered in October last year that the yacht had sailed into Dubai for maintenance, it obtained an injunction from a Dubai court against the corporate entities which owned the vessel.

In March, Ms Akhmedov applied to the High Court in London asking to take control of the yacht, arguing that the Liechtenstein and Panamanian entities that owned it were controlled by her former husband and were being used by him to avoid paying the settlement.

Her legal team said in a statement it was pleased at the ruling.

Mr Akhmedov said in a statement that the High Court ruling “lacks any legal validity” in Dubai. He claimed it would have no bearing on a separate appeal about the yacht going through the Dubai courts next month.

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Russian billionaire ‘hid yacht from his ex-wife’

Oligarch Farkhad Akhmedov is said to have concealed his assets in bid to avoid divorce payout

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A billionaire thought to have close links with the Kremlin has been accused of trying to hide his £350 million yacht from his ex-wife, reports The Times .

At the High Court in London, Tatiana Akhmedova, 41, claimed that Farkhad Akhmedov, 62, tried to conceal his assets to avoid paying her after Britain’s biggest divorce battle in 2016.

The court heard that in 2014, Akhmedov bought a superyacht from Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea football club. Akhmedov initially assigned his vessel to one company but in December 2014 paid £230 million to a firm in Panama, which purchased the yacht.

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“The husband engineered the transfer of the boat to a better-protected company at the very time that he realised that the marriage was over for good,” said Tatiana Akhmedova’s lawyer, who accused Farkhad Akhmedov of using “cipher nominee companies” and “alter-ego offshore entities”.

The 377ft superyacht has room for 18 guests and 50 crew in 25 additional cabins. The Times says she boasts “the largest swimming pool of any super-yacht”, nine decks and a pair of helipads. Her security features include an anti-missile system, bulletproof windows and bomb-resistant doors.

Farkhad Akhmedov, a trader who Washington says has close ties to the Kremlin, was ordered to give his estranged wife £453 million by a High Court judge in 2016. It was Britain’s biggest ever divorce settlement. She argued that she was due almost half his fortune because of her “equal contributions to the welfare of the family” during their marriage.

The record-breaking divorce battle saw her awarded her husband’s modern art collection – valued at £90 million – as well as the contents of their former home, worth almost £2.5 million, and a £350,000 Aston Martin.

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Billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov at centre of UK's costliest divorce wins back £350m yacht

Farkhad Akhmedov claims he and his wife were already divorced before moving to the UK - a fact Russian officials cannot verify.

Thursday 28 March 2019 16:46, UK

A Russian billionaire at the centre of the UK's costliest divorce battle has managed to keep hold of his £350m superyacht - despite still owing his ex-wife 40% of his fortune.

Oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov had his yacht Luna impounded in Dubai last year.

The move came after his ex-wife Tatiana won a global freezing order after he failed to hand over the £453m agreed in their divorce settlement.

However, on Wednesday the Dubai court of appeal ruled that the Dubai lower courts' order to impound the yacht was wrong, allowing it to leave Port Rashid.

The expedition yacht, built for Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich before Mr Akhmedov bought it in 2014, has at least nine decks, space for 50 crew, two helipads, a swimming pool and a mini submarine.

The 62-year-old has refused to agree to the ruling by a British court that he must pay his ex half his fortune, claiming they were already divorced when they lived in Moscow.

Russian officials have no record of the split in 2002, but Mr Akhmedov insists he and his wife were no longer married when she filed for divorce in 2014.

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Farkhad Akhmedov: Oligarch pleads for £225m yacht to be returned

An oligarch involved in one of the UK’s biggest divorce awards has asked to be removed from EU sanctions so his £225 million yacht can be returned.

Farkhad Akhmedov, 66, the Russian energy billionaire , has appealed to the Council of the European Union to drop sanctions imposed on him in April in response to the invasion of Ukraine .

The EU said at the time that the oligarch, who is estimated to be worth about £1.36 billion, was “close to the Kremlin and is a leading businessperson involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of the Russian Federation”.

As a result of being included on the sanctions list, Akhmedov has been unable to gain access to MV Luna,

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