The Akhmedovs and a game of hide and seek
In 2016, a judge in London’s High Court ruled that £450m should be given to a woman called Tatiana Akhmedova, as part of a divorce settlement. It was – and remains – the largest divorce settlement ever awarded by the High Court in London. Only, the money didn’t go to Tatiana. Her husband, Farkhad Akhmedov, ignored the court order – he called it “toilet paper”. Instead, the fortune was scattered away – in an alpine vault, in a trust fund, and in assets spread across the world. Court documents reveal great sums, and ever greater bitterness in a family feud that left Tatiana suing her own son to try and recover some of the millions awarded to her. It is a world few of us will ever get close to, but it’s not just a grisly story about the super-rich. The case of Akhmedov v Akhmedova is a story about global capital, the booming trade in “asset recovery”, and the toothlessness of the British legal system when it comes to policing the wealthy. And now, a new case on the horizon – Potanina v Potanin – looks set to break records all over again. Basia Cummings, Editor
