UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 14, 2023: A long-stalled refit should be able to begin again, now that the detaining of Luna has ended. The European Union has dropped sanctions against her owner. Read on for our original article.
Although she is currently under refit and physically unable to move, Luna won’t have permission to depart German waters. German authorities are detaining Luna after investigating her owner and his alleged ties to the Russian government.
The 375-foot (114-meter) megayacht belongs to Farkhad Akhmedov, whose career involves the Russian energy sector as well as Russian politics. He acquired the yacht, which launched from Lloyd Werft in 2010, in 2014. Akhmedov and the yacht made headlines in recent years due to a prolonged divorce battle, the most expensive settlement in England. Under this, his ex-wife sought Luna as part of an unpaid settlement. A Dubai court finally ruled that Akhmedov should retain ownership. In October 2021 he sent Luna from Dubai, where she’d sat the entire time, to Hamburg, Germany for maintenance and refitting.
That same drydock in Hamburg is also where German authorities are detaining Luna. The European Union placed Akhmedov under sanctions on April 8. “Close to the Kremlin, he is a leading businessman and active in sectors of the economy that are important sources of income for the Government of the Russian Federation,” it states. Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), or Federal Criminal Police Office, carried out the detention and confirmed it after our inquiry. According to a statement from the BKA, the agency confirmed Akhmedov’s ownership. Therefore, sanctions apply to Luna, and the superyacht could further face arrest or freezing, it says. “The yacht is subject to a ban on disposal and provision and is permanently prevented from sailing in violation of sanctions,” it adds.
Additionally, the Hamburg Port Authority confirmed that authorities are detaining Luna. Its head of corporate communications informs us, “the ship has since been formally treated as having been banned from sailing.”
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