The government of Gibraltar will sell the confiscated yacht of the Russian billionaire at auction. This is the first case of the sale of property confiscated from the Russians.
The $75 million 72.5m superyacht Axioma was delayed in Gibraltar in March. It belongs to the former member of the board of directors of the Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) Dmitry Pumpyansky, who, after the start of the war, was on the sanctions lists of the European Union (EU), Great Britain, the United States and Canada.
The vessel is being sold in the interests of the American investment bank JP Morgan, to which Pumpyansky is said to owe more than $20 million. The yacht was detained by the Gibraltar government after a lawsuit from the bank. JP Morgan points out that the sanctions in this case mean a violation of the terms of the loan, since now the bank cannot accept payment from the oligarch.
According to The Guardian, a JP Morgan spokesman did not answer questions about whether the bank would send any part of the proceeds to Ukrainian residents who fled their homes due to the war. However, he stated that "JP Morgan expanded its philanthropic commitment from $5 million to $10 million to help address the escalating Ukrainian refugee crisis."
The host of the auction, which will sell Axioma, said that more than 30 people have already flown to Gibraltar to inspect the yacht. Also, according to him, several potential buyers signed up for inspection over the weekend and on Monday morning, before the close of the auction.
Britain has previously said that Pumpyansky was one of the closest oligarchs to Putin. His TMK is the largest Russian and world pipe manufacturer. Among the company's clients are Gazprom, LUKOIL, Rosneft and others. Pumpyansky ceased to be a beneficiary of TMK and left its board of directors in March after he was included in the EU sanctions list.
