Man ordered to pay mother £75m after assisting 'schemes' by billionaire father to hide divorce money

A man has been ordered to pay £75m to his divorced mother after helping his father hide money and assets from her, a court has ruled.

Temur Akhmedov, 27, worked as his fathers "lieutenant" against Tatiana Akhmedova, 48, according to a High Court ruling.

In 2016, Ms Akhmedova was awarded a 41.5% share of 65-year-old Farkhad Akhmedov's £1bn-plus fortune.

This amounts to about £453m, and is thought to be the biggest award of its type.

However, judges have heard that so far only about £5m has been received by Ms Akhmedova - and her Russian businessman ex-husband has not "voluntarily" paid a penny.

Ms Akhmedova is pursuing her former spouse in courts in multiple countries as she says he is hiding money from her, using their son to help him.

The court heard the billionaire had moved the ownership of his £340m superyacht Luna into a trust in Lichtenstein.

Mrs Justice Gwynneth Knowles made the ruling against the couple's son at the Family Division of the High Court in London, saying vast sums of money had been sent to him.

She 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.

"Their eldest son, Temur, confirmed in his oral evidence that the husband would rather have seen the money burnt than for the wife to receive a penny of it.

"Regrettably, those schemes were carried out with Temur's knowledge and active assistance.

"I reject his case that he was a mere go-between for his father: the evidence indicated otherwise.

"Temur told me in his evidence that he had helped his father protect his assets from his mother's claims.

"He was, indeed, his father's lieutenant.

"Temur has learned well from his father's past conduct and has done and said all he could to prevent his mother receiving a penny of the matrimonial assets.

"He lied to this court on numerous occasions, breached court orders, and failed to provide full disclosure of his assets.

"I find that he is a dishonest individual who will do anything to assist his father, no doubt because he is utterly dependent on his father for financial support."

The younger Akhmedov’s spokesman said: "Like millions of young people, Temur has been caught up in the break-up of his parents' marriage. He never sought to take sides or get involved but inevitably found himself sucked into the vortex of a bitter family dispute.

"His subsequent actions were only ever motivated by his desire to end the war between his parents.

"While he fundamentally disagrees with this judgment, he would consider it a price worth paying for should it lead to a reasonable settlement between the parents he loves.”

Ms Akhmedova said in a statement: "Today's judgment is the inevitable conclusion given Farkhad's failure to behave honourably in the first instance."

And her ex-husband Farkhad Akhmedov said: "Entirely predictably, given its original wrong and misguided judgment, the London court has ruled in favour of visiting 'the sins' of the father on an innocent and loyal son."

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