![]() ![]() Usmanov isn’t the only oligarch who has relied on the courts to try to get back his assets, or at least avoid having them auctioned off.Īfter US authorities won a battle in Fijian courts and sailed away on the yacht Amadea last year, a lawyer for the company that owns the yacht filed a last-ditch effort to prevent the US from selling it off, as President Biden has claimed he wants to do. His lawyers are now filing an effort to force the government to pay for damages from the raids. His lawyers said the decision had renewed Usmanov’s faith in the German constitutional state. Usmanov is pretty pleased with the outcome. Russian President Vladimir Putin presents Alisher Usmanov with an award in 2018 ( Kremlin) The judge also criticized the government’s reliance on an investigation by imprisoned Putin critic Alexei Navalny and published on YouTube, declaring it was not evidence enough to have issued search warrants. The court said there was no initial suspicion of money laundering when the assets were seized. The raid on Dilbar and on a warehouse that was holding items that had been moved off Dilbar while she underwent maintenance uncovered at least thirty works of art, including a painting by the Russian-French expressionist Marc Chagall.īut the German courts have determined those raids were illegal. ![]() In the raids of Usmanov’s properties on land, authorities found millions of dollars-worth of artwork, including four Fabergé eggs (Usmanov insists they are replicas). Navis Marine is owned by Almenor Holdings Limited in Cyprus, whose shares are held by Pomerol Capital SA in Switzerland, in a trust for The Sisters Trust, which Usmanov originally created but now claims is related to his sister. The yacht belongs to Navis Marine Limited, which is registered in the Cayman Islands. They began focusing on tax evasion and money laundering, uncovering 90 “suspicious” money laundering reports and an opaque web of shell companies in Dilbar’s ownership structure. German officials decided criminal tax law would be better suited to seize Usmanov’s assets and sell them off. The ruling marked a big win for Usmanov, who has joined a chorus of other Russian oligarchs aiming to use the free world’s rule of law and stable justice systems to get back their assets that were seized by governments claiming they were corruptly acquired using Russia’s crony kleptocracy. It looked like a massive haul of evidence for a money laundering investigation the state had launched against the oligarch, who was sanctioned by the European Union last year as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.īut last month a German court declared those search warrants were unlawful. Another 60 officials from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and tax authorities raided Dilbar, Usmanov’s 156-meter megayacht worth an estimated $600 million.Īuthorities seized millions of dollars-worth of art and caches of documents. Last September, 250 German police officers fanned out across the country raiding villas and other properties belonging to Alisher Usmanov, a Russian oligarch who made his fortune from the ashes of the Soviet Union, building up an estimated wealth of $14.3 billion. This week contributor Alex Finley revives her #YachtWatch franchise to catch up on how a number of Russian tycoons are using legal tools to stop Western efforts to seize their assets in the aftermath of the Russian war on Ukraine. Welcome to Whale Hunting, a weekly newsletter delving into the hidden worlds of wealth and power.
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