A Russian oligarch immersed in Britain’s most expensive divorce has lost a crucial court battle to avoid paying his ex-wife more than £450m.
Farkhad Akhmedov refused to pay his ex the huge sum after claiming he was already divorced when they lived in Moscow.
After he refused to accept a ruling by a British court that he pay her half his fortune, his ex-wife Tatiana attempted to seize his super yacht Luna in lieu of payment.
At present the £353m yacht is being held at a port in Dubai for the duration of the legal battle over its ownership.
A Russian Court of Appeal rejected Akhmedov’s attempts to prove he was divorced in 2000 in Moscow.
Akhmedov claimed the papers were lost, but the court rejected his appeal saying he had failed to submit ‘sufficient and credible’ evidence over their existence.
Lawyers for Tatiana welcomed the decision by the Moscow Court of Appeal.
Yuri Kuznetsov, acting for Ms Akhmedov in Moscow, said, “We are relieved that this nonsensical claim can finally be put to bed.
“Three courts have now reached the conclusion that the only divorce granted to Ms Akhmedov was that finalised in London in 2016 and the Moscow City Court’s decision is closing the net on his increasingly desperate attempts to avoid accepting that reality.”
