Another Russian Oligarch’s Yacht, the World’s Largest, Is Seized in Germany

They were made to bedazzle, but flaunting your superyacht is getting to be way less fun for many of the wealthy men — and, now it can be said, women — who own them. In the latest example of the crackdown on Russian oligarchs in the wake of their country’s invasion of Ukraine, German authorities say they have seized a superyacht in Hamburg after determining that it belongs to the sister of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov.The Federal Criminal Police Office said Wednesday that, after “extensive investigations” and despite “offshore concealment,” it was able to determine that the owner is Gulbakhor Ismailova.Superyacht Dilbar was launched in 2016 at a reported cost of more than $648 million and is reportedly the largest yacht in the world. According to the website Superyacht Times, the Dilbar’s designer, Espen Oeino, “created an exterior consisting of light ivory with bronze accents to compliment her owner’s other yacht.” This beauty — or beast, depending on your view of such mega-boat bling — is outfitted with the largest yacht pool ever built; accommodates 36 guests and at least 84 crew; and is equipped with not one but two helipads. It also floats, but likely won’t be doing much sailing any time soon.The police office said German authorities worked in Brussels to ensure that European Union sanctions applied to the owner. It says the yacht can no longer be sold, rented, or loaded. In other words, it’s grounded.The United States and EU last month announced economic sanctions against Mr. Usmanov, a metals magnate, over his ties to Vladimir Putin and in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Those followed an earlier raft of EU sanctions on nearly two-dozen Russian billionaires, including Mr. Usmanov, imposed on February 28. In officials’ sights were private jets, luxury homes, and yachts belonging to the sanctioned. With an estimated fortune of $19 billion, Mr. Usmanov is said to be the sixth richest man in Russia. The time lag between imposition of sanctions and impounding of assets such as superyachts can be explained at least in part by the deliberate obfuscation of ownership of the vessels. In the case of the Dilbar, German police had to undertake weeks’ worth of painstaking financial investigative work to expose the yacht’s true ownership, the Guardian reported.Curiously, the boat’s maker is the German company Lürssen, with a German shipyard at nearby Bremen. It is not clear if an inquiry to Lürssen was part of the German investigation. While there was no hiding the 15,917-ton yacht, which Lürssen calls “one of the most complex and challenging yachts ever built,” especially while it was undergoing repair work at one of Europe’s busiest seaports, other yachts belonging to other sanctioned Russian oligarchs have also been capturing the world’s attention as authorities seize a growing roster of the luxury vessels. Not without a certain dose of schadenfreude, they open a porthole on the decadent lifestyle of Russian billionaires who in one way or another have profited from their ties with the keeper of the Kremlin, Captain Vlad himself. If an oligarch’s yacht was at sea or in a non-EU country after sanctions were imposed, it could elude seizure. The most publicized example of this to date concerns the private fleet, as it were, of the sanctioned Russian-Israeli oligarch Roman Abramovich. Two of his superyachts, the Eclipse and Solaris, found safe harbor in Turkey. But a Financial Times investigation earlier this month found that Mr. Abramovich owns at least two additional superyachts, moored in Antigua, and possibly a fifth.Unlike some countries, Britain has the power to demand ownership information of groups registered in any of its overseas territories or crown dependencies, a fact that helped the Financial Times track down Mr. Abramovich’s big boats in their Caribbean hideout. But it is unclear if Antiguan authorities have impounded the vessels. As for the fifth ship, it is called the Sussurroa and is moored at the French port of La Ciotat, where in March French authorities seized a multimillion dollar yacht that belonged to a company linked to Igor Sechin, better known as head of the Rosneft, the Russian oil group. Like Mr. Abramovich, Mr. Sechin is a close friend of Vladimir Putin.

Another Russian Oligarch’s Yacht, the World’s Largest, Is Seized in Germany

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