Russian billionaire, Farkhad Akhmedov, isn't just losing one woman in his life in his ongoing divorce, but two: his wife, and also his $492 million yacht, the Luna. She (the yacht that is, not the wife) is now in dry dock in Dubai, but a judge has reportedly ordered Akhmedov to transfer ownership over to his wife, Tatiana Akhmedova.
The ruling came to uphold a previous decision by the London judge of a $646 million payout in American dollars, which makes the Akhmedov divorce one of the most expensive in the history of the UK. According to Bloomberg, Judge Charles Haddon-Cave says that the Luna was moved to Dubai by Akhmedov in order to place it "well beyond the reach of an English court judgment," which he clearly took issue with if his decision is any indication.
Befitting its place in the center of one of the most expensive divorces in UK history, the Luna is a nine-deck, 50-crew-member yacht. It measures 380 feet, with a 20-meter outdoor swimming pool, a mini-submarine, and two helipads, and according to the judge's ruling is valued at almost half a billion dollars. For Akhmedov, he released a statement blaming the decision not on a fair split but on political tension between the UK and his native Russia, where the divorce originally took place before Akhmedova's attorneys decided to file in London:
"Can it really be a coincidence that this is all happening while the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's comments' make it plain that 'the U.K. seeks to seize assets belonging to wealthy Russians,'" Akhmedov said in an emailed statement.
In a separate statement, Akhmedov expressed defiance and skepticism that the transfer of the yacht will ever actually happen:
"Any idea that the yacht can be sold or handed over to Mrs. Akhmedova is fanciful. For that to happen – by the time all legal procedures were exhausted – would take years. By then the yacht could have depreciated."
The judge in turn expressed a desire to move quickly in order to enforce the transfer, given Akhmedov's alleged transfer of wealth outside the country in order to escape the ruling. That reportedly includes not just the Luna but a huge collection of modern art, which he has allegedly moved to Lichtenstein.
