Seized $75 Million Superyacht Axioma Is Going Back to Its Sanctioned Oligarch Owner

Axioma, a beautiful, instantly recognizable 236-foot (72-meter) superyacht delivered by Dunya Yachts in 2013, is the first seized luxury asset to sell at auction, since the new round of international sanctions against Russian oligarchs went into effect. It was seized in March in Gibraltar on a mere technicality that seemingly had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine (that is, with the reason given for the sanctions), and sold in a closed auction this month. Its buyer is a straw man for the same sanctioned Russian oligarch that caused all this trouble in the first place, reports claim.

Several sources tell superyacht vlogger eSysman Superyachts (see the video below, at the 2.58-minute mark) that the buyer is a straw buyer, and that it’s very likely that the intended future owner is no other than the old owner, oil magnate Dmitry Pumpyansky. Pumpyansky was included on sanctions lists in March, for his presumed close relationship to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Axioma was seized because he had defaulted on a loan he got from J.P. Morgan.

When Axioma docked in Gibraltar, Pumpyansky had just been sanctioned, and J.P. Morgan asked for the seizure so they could recoup a standing $21.5 million loan. Local authorities acted on behalf of the UK government and arrested the vessel, and it finally sold in August. As we informed you at the time, the sale attracted anonymous 63 bids. The winner would not be announced until 10 to 14 days later, so the Gibraltar Admiralty Court could analyze all bids at leisure.

Sources within the same Court said at the time that whatever money Axioma made would go to covering the standing debt to J.P. Morgan. Anything left after that would probably be frozen because the state couldn’t use the money – not even to send it over to Ukraine to aid with the refugee crisis, even though it would be the most cavalier (and logical) thing to do.

As it turns out, the situation is even more ridiculous than that, if the several sources who have spoken to eSysman are correct. Grab some popcorn, because the drama is far from over.

The buyer, they say, is someone from Dunya Yachts, the same shipyard that built and delivered Axioma to Pumpyansky. There are clues pointing to Russian ownership of the shipyard or at least some Russian leeway in the decision-making process, since the Dunya website is available in English and Russian, but not Turkish. Moreover, Axioma, which was officially sold to Pumpyansky after its Monaco Yacht Show debut in 2013, is listed as a “bespoke built” done on commission.

If there’s a history between the shipyard and some Russian oligarch, that oligarch must be Pumpyansky himself. Axioma is due for a 10-year review in July 2023, so the fact that it sold just prior to it will allow the new owner to sail it to Turkey on the claim of undergoing the survey at the shipyard where it was built. This is the only way in which authorities could release it and allow it to set sail to Turkey, which has become a safe haven for Russian oligarchs trying to stash their floating palaces where no trigger-sanction-happy government could reach them.

Once the 10-year survey is completed, the owner will sell Axioma, the vlogger believes. “And most likely, the new buyer is gonna be the old buyer,” which would be a slap in the face of all those who have supported and enforced sanctions against Russian oligarchs for the Ukrainian war.

It all sounds like Pumpyansky was just able to buy his boat back, and to arrange its transport to friendly in a completely legal way. If you’re wondering about how much the whole thing cost him, know it was not cheap: the same sources say that the winning bid was of £38 million (so a hair over $44 million at the current exchange rate), to which you add the reported $8 million accumulated between March and August in unpaid crew salaries, docking fees and assorted taxes. That’s $52 million, to get his $75 million superyacht back.

Before all this, Axioma was once a very popular charter platform, offering luxury amenities and plenty of entertainment features, from a 3D cinema to a garage packed with water toys, pool and a spa. While a beautiful ship, not in the least because of it recent turquoise blue hull, it is neither the most luxurious nor the newest, even by non-oligarch standards. Pumpyansky has a net worth of $2 billion, so he could afford to just shrug off the loss of a superyacht. If all of this is true, either he really wanted to stick it up to international authorities and was willing to spare no effort or expense to do it, or there is more to Axioma than we know about, to make it this special.