Regular visitors to my blog Love, Life and the Law may recall the case in March 2018 of Akhmedov v Akhmedova, understood to involve the couple at the centre of the highest divorce award ever made in an English court. I then followed up the story in December 2020, here.
The wheels of the British judicial system can sometimes turn very slowly but recently Tatiana Akhmedova was apparently, at last able to pay Burford Capital, her litigation funders.
According to the Press Association here the legal financiers were paid £74.6m for their role in funding the Russian billionairess’s divorce appeals.
The Russian billionaire had appealed to the Court of Appeal against an order made in 2016 that he, the husband, pay his former wife £453m. The Judge had found the total value of the wife’s claim to be £453,576,152 comprising 41.5% of the total marital assets, and considered a divorce award of that sum to be justified in all the circumstances.
Burford Capital, which funds claimants in legal disputes with the aim of taking a cut of any settlement, told the London Stock Exchange it has received, “Its full cash entitlement… in respect of the Akhmedov matter.”
In preparation for the case, Ms Akhmedova said she had also employed an asset recovery team, which includes former members of the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Service.
Clearly it is not commonplace for funding litigators, such as Burford Capital, to pay for the legal costs of a case they join in return for a percentage of any proceeds awarded.
However, what is quite common is that efforts to hide assets such as the use of offshore bank accounts or funds held by seemingly unrelated businesses are not beyond the reach of the English court.
It seems that the five year Akhmedov v Akhmedova saga has at last come to an end.
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The above is accurate as at 27 July 2021. The information above may be subject to change during these ever-changing times.
The content of this note should not be considered legal advice and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
