Germany Impounds World’s Largest Yacht From One of Putin’s Favorite Russian Oligarchs
VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images
German authorities announced on Wednesday that they seized the world’s largest megayacht, in terms of volume, from a Russian oligarch known to be one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies.
The yacht was seized after officials verified the yacht was the property of Alisher Usmanov’s sister, who the tycoon “indirectly transferred assets” after he was sanctioned. Usmanov is a “metals and telecoms tycoon with an estimated $16.2 billion net worth,” according to Reuters, and has been sanctioned by both the United States and the European Union.
The yacht, believed to be worth between $600 and $735 million, takes some $60 million a year to maintain, according to an estimate from the US Treasury Department. German authorities have had the yacht in their possession since March, but have only now ascertained its owner and officially impounded the vessel.
Insider notes the 512-foot yacht, named the Dilbar, has two “helipads and the largest indoor pool ever installed.”
Reuters also notes that Usmanov’s “villa in Golfo del Pevero, on the island of Sardinia, worth approximately $19 million, has been seized by Italian authorities” and “Everton F.C., a football club in England’s Premier League, suspended its $15 million-plus naming rights deal with Usmanov’s holding company USM.”
Germany’s seizing of the Dilbar comes a day after Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich reportedly had some $7 billion of his fortune froze by a Jersey court. Abramovich also had a $120 million mansion seized by French authorities.
