Six months ago, the yacht belonging to the Russian oligarch Dimitri Pumpianski was confiscated in Gibraltar. Now the luxury ship comes under the hammer and achieves a proud sum. However, who bought the yacht remains a secret.
Gibraltar has auctioned the yacht of the Russian oligarch Dimitri Pumpianski, which was confiscated in March, for around 39 million euros. The competent court stated that the name of the buyer would not be published. The Gibraltar authorities want to use the proceeds of the auction to compensate the oligarch’s creditors.
A total of 63 bids were received for the “Axioma” – a 72 meter long luxury yacht flying the Maltese flag. It was seized in March by British territory authorities in southern Spain after a lawsuit was filed by US bank JP Morgan. In December 2021, the bank granted a loan of 20.5 million euros to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Among the owners of this company was a Cypriot company, which in turn was owned by Pumpianski.
JP Morgan considered Pumpianski’s listing on the UK sanctions list against Russia a breach of the loan agreement. Therefore, the bank in Gibraltar applied to confiscate and sell the yacht. JP Morgan is demanding that the proceeds from the sale be used to repay the loan.
Pumpianski is the boss of the largest Russian pipeline manufacturer TMK. Therefore, there are also EU sanctions against him in connection with the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Because of the Ukraine war, several European countries, including Spain, Italy and France, have confiscated yachts owned by Russian oligarchs.
