Divorcee of oligarch gets £15m a year
BURFORD Capital has been bankrolling the luxurious lifestyle of a Russian oligarch’s exwife while it pursues him around the world in a bid to seize his £250m mega-yacht.
The lawsuit-funding firm handed divorcee Tatiana Akhmedova ( pictured) nearly £15m last year to cover living expenses, according to an explosive dossier.
It came after she won a £453m High Court battle with ex-husband Farkhad Akhmedov, 63, who has an estimated £1.2bn fortune.
She was awarded a 41.5pc share of his wealth in the 2016 ruling by Justice HaddonCave. But her ex-husband claims the judgement was ‘misguided and wrong’, and has resisted seizure of his assets.
Burford was brought in to assist the recovery effort and is entangled in a legal battle with the billionaire. It paid Akhmedova’s living expenses while her claim was pursued and will get a share of anything recovered.
The biggest prize in the battle is Luna, a yacht Akhmedov bought from fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich. It has two helipads, a spa, bomb-resistant doors and a mini-submarine. It sleeps 18 guests and 50 crew, and is thought to be worth £247m, according to website Superyacht Fan.
It has been impounded by authorities in Dubai, with the rival parties wrangling over its ownership. The case is a prime example of poor decision-making, it is claimed, in a 25-page document published by US hedge fund Muddy Waters, which is heavily critical of Burford’s accounting practices.
It branded £4.3m of asset recoveries by Burford ‘unimpressive’ and said a £70m countersuit brought by Akhmedov against his ex-wife and Burford could cost it dearly.
Muddy Waters added: ‘Burford has to continue to finance the defendant as she tries to monetise the award judgment.’
Akhmedov’s lawyers reject the 2016 UK decision, insisting he divorced his wife in Russia 19 years ago and so her claims are invalid. However, Haddon-Cave said there was no evidence to support that claim.
Other assets the judge ordered frozen included offshore bank accounts, a collection of modern art worth £90m, a £350,000 Aston Martin and vintage shotguns.