![]() 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 yacht was then tugged down the Elbe river to Bremen, where it has been kept ever since.Ī hotel CCTV captures Dilbar being tugged along the Elbe river to Bremen The shipyard eventually needed that space for other clients ( Dilbar is the third largest private yacht by volume, with a gross tonnage of nearly 16,000 GT, so it was taking up a large part of the shipyard). Indeed, German taxpayers have been paying around $70,000 a day to maintain Dilbar, which had been in drydock in a private shipyard in Hamburg when Usmanov was sanctioned. While sanctioning oligarchs and detaining their megayachts had proved cathartic for a time, some governments were looking to get the assets off their hands because of the costs involved in maintaining them. ![]() 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.Īccording to reporting in Der Spiegel, German officials had moved to a money laundering and tax evasion investigation after sanctions law proved too feeble to do anything more than freezing Usmanov’s assets. 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. ![]()
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