£450m divorce battle: Now son must pay mum £75m
THE son of a couple embroiled in a row over Britain’s biggest divorce settlement has been told to pay his mother £75million.
Temur Akhmedov was ordered to cough up after a High Court judge ruled the 27-year-old worked with his Russian billionaire dad, Farkhad, to make sure his mum,Tatiana, did not get £453million awarded to her in 2016.
Mrs Justice Gwynneth Knowles described Tatiana, 48, as “the victim of a series of schemes designed to put every penny of her husband’s wealth beyond her reach”.
And she concluded London trader Temur, the couple’s eldest son, was a “dishonest individual” who had acted as his father’s “lieutenant”.
The judge said: “Temur confirmed... that the husband would rather have seen the money burnt than for the wife to receive a penny of it.
“I reject his case that he was a mere go-between for his father.”
She went on: “Temur told me in his evidence he had helped his father protect his assets from his mother’s claims. He was, indeed, his father’s lieutenant.”
She said Temur had “lied to the court on numerous occasions” and added: “I find 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.”
The judge said very large sums of money had been transferred to Temur.
Awarded
Outlining her conclusions following a trial in the Family Division of the High Court, she added the Akhmedov family had been one of the unhappiest to appear before her.
Tatiana, who is also from Russia but lives in London, was awarded a 41.5 per cent share of her ex’s £1billion-plus fortune after they split.
But judges have heard she has so far received only about £5million and he has not “voluntarily” paid a penny.
Tatiana has taken legal action in
Britain and abroad in a bid to get what she is owed.
She is embroiled in litigation with a number of trusts into which her ex allegedly transferred assets, including a £340million superyacht and an art collection worth around £110million.
After yesterday’s ruling against her son, she said in a statement: “Today’s judgment is the inevitable conclusion given Farkhad’s failure to behave honourably in the first instance.”
But her ex said: “Entirely predictably, given its original wrong and misguided judgment, the London court has ruled in favour of visiting ‘the sins’ of the father on an innocent and loyal son.”
And spokesman for Temur said: “He never sought to take sides...but found himself sucked into the vortex of a bitter family dispute. His...actions were only ever motivated by his desire to end the war between his parents.
“While he fundamentally disagrees with this judgment, he would consider it a price worth paying should it lead to a reasonable settlement between the parents he loves.”