Oligarch’s son embroiled in divorce case lost $50m in ‘risky’ trades
The son of a Russian oligarch at the centre of a huge divorce case said he did not conceal assets and instead lost the money while trading at university.
London oil trader Temur Akhmedov said $50m in funds from his father, Farkhad, did not disappear because he was hiding the assets from his mother Tatiana.
Instead he said he lost the money on “risky” trades while he was studying at London School of Economics, according to Bloomberg.
Tatiana has accused her son and ex-husband of concealing millions in assets after she was awarded £450m at the High Court after their divorce.
In 2017 a High Court judge found Farkhad to be in contempt of court for failing to pay up. His ex-wife has now turned her attention to Temur and is suing him for more than £70m.
Temur said his mother was well aware of his trading activities and “even consoled him about the loss”.
“That the sums were astronomical is nothing to the point,” Temur’s attorney, Robert Levy, reportedly said in a legal filing. “Some of the extremely rich lavish their children with unimaginable sums. That is what Farkhad and Tatiana did during their marriage.”
The claim came during a London court case where Tatiana has accused her son of “wholeheartedly” helping her ex-husband Farkhad, who has refused to pay out the £450m sum, leaving her to pursue cases in at least six countries.
At one point Tatiana’s legal team, Burford Capital, tried to force Farkhad to hand over his £350m yacht, built for Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich.
Litigation funder Burford Capital has funded Tatiana’s fight to secure the divorce settlement granted in 2016.