Süddeutsche Zeitung: Farkhad Akhmedov's yacht is detained in Hamburg due to sanctions

The Luna yacht of Russian businessman of Azerbaijani origin,  Farkhad Akhmedov, was detained in Hamburg due to sanctions, writes Süddeutsche Zeitung.

According to the source, the Federal Office of the Criminal Police of Germany had previously established Akhmedov's connection with the trust in Liechtenstein, through which he owns the yacht. The ship was detained under the sanctions' law, which orders to freeze all assets of blacklisted individuals.

Forbes estimates the businessman's fortune at $1.7 billion. He was included in the EU sanctions list in April.

The 115 m Luna was built by Lloyd Werft in Germany in 2010. Initially, businessman Roman Abramovich was its owner, but in 2014 he sold the yacht to Akhmedov, Forbes wrote. According to Superyacht Fan, then Akhmedov bought the ship for $300 million, after which it was sent for repairs to Bremerhaven. There, the yacht was lengthened by 2 m, repainted and the engines replaced. Reuters estimates its cost at $436 million, Bloomberg at $492 million.

In 2018, a London court ordered the arrest of Luna due to Akhmedov's divorce proceedings to secure payments to the businessman's ex-wife Tatyana. Then the billionaire moved the yacht to Dubai and tried to hide from justice, wrote Bloomberg. The ship was under arrest for more than a year, later the arrest was declared illegal and yacht was released.