In the wake of sanctions against Russia, an oligarch's 72-meter-long yacht is confiscated and auctioned off. The bidding phase is now complete. Next, a buyer is chosen from among the 63 bids. A bank demands the proceeds to repay a loan.
The auction of Russian oligarch Dimitri Pumpianski's luxury yacht in Gibraltar has generated tremendous interest. As the competent court of the British territory announced, 63 bids were submitted for the "Axioma". The bidding phase is now complete, now the buyer will be decided. The sale could be completed in "between 10 and 14 days," the court said.
The 72-meter-long ship was seized in March as part of the sanctions imposed by Britain on Russia for the war of aggression against Ukraine. In June, a court in Gibraltar ordered the "Axioma" to be auctioned off at the "highest possible price". Not included in the auction are the bottles of wine and other alcohol from the yacht's bar, which is estimated to be worth €150,000. With the confiscation of Pumpianski's yacht, the judiciary in the small British region on the southern tip of Spain followed a complaint by the 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. As a result, the bank in Gibraltar applied to seize and sell the Maltese-flagged 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.
