A British court has ordered Russian billionaire and former politician Boris Berezovsky to pay £6 million ($9.3 million) to Edmiston & Company. It’s the sales commission stemming from the 2008 sale of his megayacht.
Berezovsky (below) hired the brokerage firm to sell the 110-meter (361-foot) Darius while she was still under construction at Lürssen. According to an article in the Telegraph, Berezovsky’s lawyer, Justice Field, said his client “did not have the ready means to pay the shipbuilding contract installments as they fell due.” Additionally, he said, if Berezovsky failed to pay installments when due, “he stood to lose at least a substantial part of his investment in the yacht.” Selling the superyacht therefore would secure the €118 million (about $153.5 million) Berezovsky had already spent, Field stated.
Nicholas Edmiston, founder of Edmiston & Company, marketed and attempted to sell the yacht to a few interested parties. Darius finally sold to the Al Futtaim family of the United Arab Emirates in October 2008. Despite that, Berezovsky disputed the right to the sales commission. In court, Field stated that Merle Wood, president of Merle Wood & Associates, made introductions between Edmiston & Company and the Al Futtaim family’s captain. Consequently, he argued, Edmiston should not receive a commission. Berezovsky himself reportedly told the court that Edmiston & Company hadn’t been an “effective cause” of the sale. The judge ruled against the arguments, however, stating that a broker’s duty is to tap his or her network of contacts. Although Wood’s role was “extremely valuable,” the judge said, Edmiston still displayed “considerable skill and expertise” in reaching out to his network.
Darius, which now goes by the name Radiant, has been in the hands of the Al Futtaim family since earlier this year.
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