09 November 2023

Russian billionaire says £450 million fight with ex-wife has been settled

09 November 2023

A Russian billionaire says he has settled a legal fight with his ex-wife after she was given a divorce payout of about £450 million by a London High Court judge.

Farkhad Akhmedov says Tatiana Akhmedova has “accepted a cash and art settlement” worth about £150 million after a five-year battle.

Ms Akhmedova, who is from Russia but lives in London, was awarded a 41.5% share of ex-husband Farkhad Akhmedov’s £1 billion-plus fortune by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave in late 2016.

The award was thought to be the biggest of its kind made by a judge in London.

Mr Akhmedov did not pay and Ms Akhmedov took legal action in Britain and abroad in a bid to trace and seize assets, including a £350 million superyacht.

He said because he and his ex-wife were not British, and were not married in Britain, a British judge should not have made a decision about money.

A spokesman for Mr Akhmedov, who is in his mid-60s, said on Friday that a settlement had been reached.

He said Ms Akhmedova had “accepted a cash and art settlement” worth about a third of £450 million.

The spokesman described Mr Justice Haddon-Cave’s award as “controversial”. Ms Akhmedov, who is in her late 40s, has not commented.

But Burford Capital, a company which has provided financial backing to Ms Akhmedova, said it had “now received its full cash entitlement” of about 103 million US dollars (about £70 million) in respect of the “Akhmedov matter”.

Earlier this year, another London High Court judge concluded that Ms Akhmedova had been a victim of a “series of schemes” designed to put “every penny” beyond her reach.

Mrs Justice Gwynneth Knowles, who has overseen recent litigation, concluded that her ex-husband and eldest son, Temur Akhmedov, had worked against her together.

The judge said very large sums had been transferred to Temur Akhmedov and ruled that he must pay his mother around £75 million.

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