Billionaire's Ex Sues Over the $400M Superyacht 'Luna' in World's Most Expensive Divorce

Luna is a custom, 114-meter (374-foot) Lloyd Werft vessel built and delivered to Roman Abramovich in 2010 as an upgrade over his previous vessel, Le Grand Bleu. Months into ownership, Luna changed hands under still-mysterious circumstances.

Abramovich's business associate, Farkhad Akhmedov, became the owner and rebranded Luna, the first superyacht explorer of this size and scale delivered to a private customer, as a family vessel.

Only a few years but a very long and super-expensive refit later, Luna became mired in controversy. Tatyana Akhmedova (now Soroka) filed for divorce from her husband and, in 2016, was awarded what the British media called the world's most expensive divorce settlement: £453 million, approximately $574.3 million at the current exchange rate.

She would continue to try to get the cash settlement for a couple more years before eventually settling for a single payment of £150 million ($190.2 million), partly in cash and partly in artwork.

Meanwhile, Luna hid out in Dubai for three years to avoid being impounded to settle the score between the bitter spouses. It was eventually arrested in Germany in 2022 under current sanctions against Russian oligarchs and remains there to this day.

If that seemed like the final chapter of the Luna saga, it's not. Last month, Mrs. Soroka mounted another legal battle, this time against the London-based firm that represented her in the divorce, based on a claim that said firm could have had Luna seized in 2017 but failed to do so out of negligence.

That year, Luna docked in Miami for an extended period. Soroka's argument is that, if her firm had done their due diligence when she informed them, Luna would have been seized and she'd have gotten the money promised under the initial settlement. In other words, she wouldn't have had to settle out of court for much less.

Soroka isn't trying to lay any claims on the $400 million Luna right now, first of all, because she'd have no chance of getting it now that it's under EU arrest. But she is using Luna and the superyacht's brief stay in Miami in 2017 to ask a judge to award her £600 million ($760.6 million) from the law firm that represented her in the divorce, according to one report in the British media.

As this new legal battle is picking up speed, Luna remains more or less abandoned at the Blohm + Voss shipyard. It's a sad moment for a vessel that not just broke world records and set a new trend among billionaire yacht owners but also marked several milestones in the industry in terms of size, amenities, and luxury finishes.