Russia Records World’s ‘Most Expensive Divorce’

Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev is set to lose half his wealth after being ordered to pay his former wife $4.5 billion in a settlement dubbed the “most expensive divorce in history.”

Elena Rybolovleva’s lawyer Marc Bonnant said the order from a Geneva court was unprecedented, and “this record judgment is a complete victory.”

However, Rybolovlev’s spokesman Sergey Chernitsyn said the divorce was still a “win” for the oligarch. The two had been battling over the settlement for six years, after Elena Rybolovleva, the oligarch’s wife of 23 years, filed for divorce.

Rybolovlev’s total wealth is estimated at $8.8 billion, according to the 2014 Forbes list of billionaires.

He made most of his money from the $6.5 billion sale of his stake in Russia’s largest potassium fertilizer company in 2010. Rybolovlev is also known as the owner of the Monaco Football Club, which plays in the top French soccer league.

Rybolovlev made headlines when he bought the Palm Beach Maison de L’Amitie from Donald Trump for reported $95 million in 2008. In 2012, the Rybolovlev’s then 21-year-old daughter Ekaterina bought Manhattan’s most expensive apartment — the penthouse on Central Park West which cost $88 million.

A trust set up in Ekaterina’s name also reportedly own Scorpios, the Greek island where Jackie Kennedy married the former owner of the island, Aristotle Onassis, in 1968.

The oligarch’s lawyers will appeal against the decision, questioning the sum. “There will definitely be a new appellate review and therefore this judgment is not final given the existence of two levels of appeal in Switzerland,” said Tetiana Bersheda, Rybolovlev’s lawyer....punch