And in divorce. Particularly if your name is Farhad Akhmedov, a Russian billionaire, who married Tatiana Akmedova in 1993. The Luna is a yacht, but as today’s New York Times describes it, “With a spa, a swimming pool, two heliports, and room for 18 guests, the Luna is more like a floating villa than a yacht.” It is worth about 500 million dollars. It has been awarded to Farhad’s ex-wife in 2016, but she’s been unable to gain possession of the yacht.
The divorce war began in 2013, when Tatiana filed for divorce in the UK. All seemed to be settled in December 2016, when the High Court ordered poor Fakhad to pay his ex-wife, the equivalent of $646 million dollars. When he refused, and the judge could not force payment, he ordered him to turn over the yacht to his ex-wife.
It’s not like burying the family jewels in a coffee can somewhere on a farm. This thing is huge – 380 feet long. Just in case of any attack, it has an anti-missile detection system, an anti-drone system and bulletproof windows and bombproof doors. Almost forgot the mini-submarine, and the 8 relatively smaller boats that it carries.
Fakhad’s assets are incredible, with houses in France and England, a private plane and a couple of helicopter. His net worth is pegged at 1.4 billion dollars.
The Luna went from Germany, to Norway and finally Dubai. In Germany, it underwent a 50 million dollar refit. Once it got to Dubai, it was impounded by authorities.
Farhad had challenged the divorce in a number of ways. He claimed he was already divorced in Russian court, but the UK court found the documents were forged. He transferred ownership to a handful of companies controlled by Farhad and his allies, in the Isle of Man, Panama, and Liechtenstein. Finally the yacht ended up in a family trust with the name Straight. UK Judge Haddon-Cave stated the trust was “the antithesis of its name.” Cute. On April 19, 2018, he ordered the yacht to be given to Tatiana, so Farhad handed her the keys and wished her well.
Ok, the last bit about handing over the yacht never happened. Instead, Farhad is going to the Dubai courts, hoping for a judgment that says the British order to transfer the yacht is unenforceable in Dubai. His trump card: he claims to be Muslim. His wife is Christian. Yet his wife claims he’s not a practicing Muslim, however he has given generously to restoration of mosques. Farhad want this to be considered a matrimonial issue to be decided by local Shariah law in Dubai, which could go bad for Tatiana.
All eyes are on the Dubai courts. The Court of Appeal of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) said that the country’s lower court had no power to seize the ship – and agreed with lawyers acting for the family trust which owns the yacht on May 10, 2018. The yacht isn’t going anywhere right now as a further court hearing will be held in July 2018 in Dubai. I’m certain what Farhad wants is for the courts to accept his line, that the marriage was dissolved in Russia back in 2000. It’s pretty crazy as they were together for 13 years following the divorce.
Tatiana is ready to settle out of court while Farhad wants to win at all costs. His lawyer stated, “He (Farhad) would rather see the Luna rot in the Dubai heat than see it handed over to Tatiana.”
Dubai is hot in July – and even hotter inside the courthouse, where the Luna could end up (a) Sold by Tatiana, (b) Back to Farhad, or (c) A rusted old yacht at the bottom of the sea.
Links:
https://www.superyachtfan.com/superyacht/superyacht_luna.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farkhad_Akhmedov
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