Gibraltar received 63 bids in the auction of Russian tycoon Dimitri Pumpianski’s yacht, which is subject to British sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the office of the marshal of the Admiralty, the maritime judicial authority there, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The “Axiom” was seized in March and is a luxury yacht 72 meters long and Maltese flag, built in 2013 and capable of accommodating 12 people in six cabins, in addition to 20 crew, according to the datasheet provided by the auctioneer.
The auction does not include items such as the bottle rack in his bar, which is worth more than 150,000 euros, according to a court hearing.
The vessel was seized by the territory, located in the extreme south of Spain, following a complaint filed by the American bank JPMorgan.
This bank in December granted a loan of 20.5 million euros to a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, whose shareholder was a Cypriot company owned by Pumpianski.
The bank considered that the inclusion of the oligarch on the list of Russian personalities subject to British sanctions constituted, among other things, a breach of the loan agreement.
The sanctions led to the freezing of the assets of those affected, which jeopardizes the repayment of loans.
For this reason, JP Morgan turned to the authorities in Gibraltar to seize the yacht, which had been registered as one of the guarantees for the loan.
Pumpianski, owner of pipeline giant TMK, has been targeted by EU sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Several countries, such as Spain, Italy and France, have confiscated yachts from Russian oligarchs as part of European sanctions.
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
