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High Court Judge approves “largest” divorce settlement of its kind

A High Court Judge has ruled that a Russian billionaire and his son had “plotted” to hide his wealth from his former spouse.

The ruling means that Tatiana Akhmedova, the former wife of oil and gas tycoon Farkhad Akhmedov, will be entitled to a divorce settlement in the region of £453 million.

According to reports, Ms Akhmedova had accused the billionaire, whom she was married to for 27 years, and her son of colluding to “hide hundreds of millions in assets” in a bid to prevent them from being considered in their divorce.

It was alleged that the Russian oligarch transferred cash and assets, including a £30 million luxury London apartment, to their son to avoid paying the £453 million settlement awarded by the High Court in 2016 – described as the largest payout of its kind in Britain.

But since that ruling, Ms Akhmedova said she has recovered just £5 million and a “rusty helicopter”, while her husband held onto assets including a private jet, a superyacht, luxury cars, and a £115 million art collection featuring paintings by Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and Damien Hirst.

Handing down the landmark ruling, High Court Judge, Mrs Justice Gwynneth Knowles, said the wife has been “the victim of a series of schemes designed to put every penny of the Husband’s wealth beyond her reach”.

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Akhmedov said: “Entirely predictably, given its original wrong and misguided judgement, the London court has ruled in favour of visiting “the sins” of the father on an innocent and loyal son.”

A statement from Ms Akhmedova said: “Today’s judgement is the inevitable conclusion given Farkhad’s failure to behave honourably in the first instance. This settlement should have been reached amicably as I offered on so many occasions.”

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