The other week, a High Court Judge ruled that the son of a Russian billionaire must pay his divorced mother £75 million after he helped his father hide money and assets from her during divorce and financial remedy proceedings in 2016.
Akhmedova v Akhmedov and Others [2020] EWHC 1526 (Fam)
Case details
Following a Court ruling in 2016, Tatiana Akhmedova, who resides in London, should have received £453 million from her former husband, Farkhad Akhmedov – equating to 41.5% of his £1 billion-plus fortune. However, since the judgement, she has only received £5 million and, according to Ms Akhmedova, Mr Akhmedov has not “voluntarily” paid her a penny.
As a result of this, she has taken legal action in numerous countries against her ex-husband, accusing him of trying to conceal his wealth. She has also made various Court applications in relation to their eldest son, Temur Akhmedov, who she has claimed has been his father’s “lieutenant” actively helping him with his schemes.
During the recent proceedings, the High Court heard that Mr Akhmedov had transferred the ownership of his £340 million superyacht, Luna and an art collection worth around £110 million into a trust in Lichtenstein.
A WhatsApp message was shared with the High Court, in which, Mr Akhmedov said to his son that he would “burn” all of his wealth instead of passing it onto his former wife. A sentiment shared by his son who replied to the message saying that his mother “didn’t deserve” a penny.
High Court decision
In Mrs Justice Knowles’ judgement, she ordered Mr Akhmedov, and a number of businesses he had used to hide his wealth, to pay his ex-wife the hundreds of millions of pounds she was owed.
Furthermore, the Judge found that Mr Akhmedov had transferred very large sums to Temur, who, as a consequence, was ordered to pay his mother around £75 million.
In the judgement, Mrs Justice Knowles commented:
“The wife has been the victim of a series of schemes designed to put every penny of the husband’s wealth beyond her reach.
“Their eldest son, Temur, confirmed in his oral evidence that the husband would rather have seen the money burnt than for the wife to receive a penny of it.
“Regrettably, those schemes were carried out with Temur’s knowledge and active assistance.
“I reject his case that he was a mere go-between for his father: the evidence indicated otherwise.
“Temur told me in his evidence that he had helped his father protect his assets from his mother’s claims.
“He was, indeed, his father’s lieutenant.
“Temur has learned well from his father’s past conduct and has done and said all he could to prevent his mother receiving a penny of the matrimonial assets.
“He lied to this court on numerous occasions, breached court orders, and failed to provide full disclosure of his assets.
“I find that he is a dishonest individual who will do anything to assist his father, no doubt because he is utterly dependent on his father for financial support.”
How we can help
Emma Davies is a Partner at Nelsons, specialising in family law.
If you need advice on divorce proceedings or any other related matters, please contact Emma or another member of our expert Family Law team in Derby, Leicester or Nottingham who will be happy to discuss your circumstances and give you more information about the services that we can provide.
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