Boris Berzovsky yachts & villa on Cote d'Azur

Russian prosecutors appeal to French court for releasing 'Berezovsky yachts'  rianovosti.com 20 Jun 11 Russian prosecutors have appealed against a decision by a French court to release two luxury yachts allegedly belonging to fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The French appeals court cancelled a previous court decision to seize the yachts earlier this month. The seizure was part of an ongoing criminal investigation against the Russian oligarch, who has been in self-exile in London since 2000. Berezovsky has denied that the yachts belong to him. The total cost of the seized yachts, one of which is the 50-meter-long ThunderB (pic), is estimated to reach €14 million.

French court cancels seizure of yachts attributed to Russian tycoon Berezovsky  rianovosti.com 14 Jun 11 A French appeals court has cancelled a decision to seize two yachts allegedly belonging to fugitive Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The yachts were seized in February off of Antibes, where Berezovsky has a mansion, at the request of Russian prosecutors. The seizure was part of a criminal investigation against the Russian oligarch, who has been in self-exile in London since 2000. Berezovsky denies the yachts belong to him. The court has satisfied an appeal by a Russian-owned British-based company which said it bought the yachts two years ago.

Video Criminal probe targets Russian's yachts  telegraph.co.uk 19 Feb 11 Authorities said on Thursday they had seized the two yachts docked on the French Riviera belonging to Mr Berezovsky, a fierce critic of the Kremlin, on the demand of Russian authorities. A court source who asked not to be named told AFP Friday that this was part of a Russian investigation into fraud, money-laundering and an apparent conspiracy charge which French officials described as "criminal association." The boats – one 49-metre (160-foot) yacht and one smaller vessel – were moored at Golfe-Juan, a glamorous French Mediterranean resort. French police impounded them in the presence of two Russian magistrates, the official said.

Tycoon Berezovsky denies yachts seized in France  rian.ru 18 Feb 11 Russian fugitive tycoon Boris Berezovsky has denied reports that French authorities have seized two yachts belonging to him. "I have no yachts in France, I have only paintings, not important ones, but I have no information that anyone has seized them. I have not been there for ten years," Berezovsky said in an interview with the Moscow-based Ekho Moskvy radio station. The yachts, worth around $20 million, were seized at the request of the Russian prosecutors as part of an ongoing criminal investigation against him, a spokesperson for the Russian Prosecutor General's Office said on Thursday. The French authorities have confirmed that the yachts docked off the resort town of Antibes, and other objects belonging to Berezovsky were seized at Moscow's request. RIA Novosti.

Edmiston win case over unpaid commission  synfo.com 27 Jul 10 Yacht broker Edmiston Company has won the case over unpaid commission against Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky after he failed to pay them for their role in selling the 110-metre Lurssen motoryacht ‘Darius’ (now renamed ‘Radiant’) back in 2008. After a six-day trial the court ruled in favour of Edmiston and has ordered the Russian businessman to pay them the commission they are owed after deciding that the brokerage house had been responsible in securing the sale of the motoryacht. Liggie Pelekani.

Berezovsky and broker in superyacht battle  Sunday Times 28 Jun 09 Boris Berezovsky, the exiled Russian tycoon, has become embroiled in a bitter dispute with boat broker Nicholas Edmiston after he sold his superyacht for a quick £47m profit. The oligarch sold the 360ft yacht to Abdulla al-Futtaim, a billionaire car dealer from the United Arab Emirates. David Leppard.

Prokhorov, Lily Safra & Villa Leopolda

Prokhorov’s defence argued that the right of withdrawal for seven days had been denied. In summer 2008, Prokhorov agreed to acquire the villa for the record price of €370m, plus €19.5m for the furniture, before finally giving up his purchase.

Riviera pad costs 50 million dollars for Russian who didn't buy it  Times Online 01 Mar 10 €40m will buy you a sumptuous mansion on the Riviera in these chastened times. Russia's richest man lost that sum plus a lot of face today when a local court refused to return his deposit on the grandest villa of them all. Mikhail Prokhorov, 44, worth $9.5bln according to Forbes last year, was told that he could not reclaim the funds that he put down on the Villa Leopolda, the spectacular property at Villefranche which he promised to buy in 2008. He backed out of the record sale, for €390m, early last year after the recession struck the mineral business on which his fortune was based. Charles Bremner.

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov seeks deposit back on £347m French Riviera villa  Telegraph.co.uk 17 Dec 09 Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's richest man, is seeking to reclaim a £35 million deposit on the world's most expensive property after pulling out of a deal to buy the sumptuous Villa Leopolda in Villefranche. Its current owner is Lily Safra, the widow of Edmond Safra, the Lebanese-Jewish banking billionaire who was murdered by his male nurse in Monaco in 1999. A court in Nice heard that in August last year Mr Prokhorov, 44, signed a promesse de vente or sale agreement for the villa. Mr Prokhorov's lawyers insisted on Wednesday he should be allowed to retrieve the huge down-payment. They argued that Mrs Safra's notary had illicitly lumped the furniture price tag with the house price in a declaration to the French state, which they said was grounds for cancelling the contract. Henry Samuel.

$650 Million Price Cut on Villa Leopolda?  Luxist 17 Nov 09 Villa Leopolda on the Cote D'Azur, once the world's most expensive estate with a $750 million pricetag, is apparently back on the market with an astonishing $650 million price cut, a new world record. Owner Lilly Safra did not re-list the property right away, but according to Forbes the Villa is now available for $102 million. Leopolda's owner Lily Safra now says the Forbes report was "pure fantasy". "The residence is not being sold and was never offered for sale," Safra's rep Seth Goldschlager insists. Forbes has now removed Leopolda from its list of the world's most expensive estates. Jared Paul Stern.

'World's most expensive home' deposit goes to colleges  Buxton Advertiser.co.uk 2 Mar 09 A deposit made on a villa billed as the most expensive home in the world is to be used to fund humanitarian concerns including donations to two leading UK academic institutions in London. Press Association.

Russian oligarch in dispute over villa FT.com 24 Feb 09 One of Russia’s richest businessmen is in dispute with the owner of the world’s most expensive property. Andrew Jack in London and Catherine Belton in Moscow.

Russian Oligarch in Dispute Over Villa

Just weeks before the banking bubble burst September 2009, the Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov is reported to have decided to purchase the opulent Villa Leopolda in Villefranche-sur-Mer from the wife of the late US banker Edmond Safra. The reported price tag of almost €400 million would have made it the most expensive property deal in the world. The €3.9m local taxes on the deal would have equalled Villefranche-sur-Mer's total annual budget. Prokhorov who is reported to be worth €14bn, filed papers to cancel the deal in January and wants his deposit back. The current owner, philanthropist Lilly Safra says she is not required to return the deposit and wants to donate it to charities supporting medical research, patient care, education and other important humanitarian causes. This video posted on YouTube last August, when the deal was announced, shows a news report from French TV channel TF1 with views of the property that was built by Belgium's King Leopold II in 1902. RLTV.

Sun, sea and excess on the Côte de Crime  Alexander Lebedev Blog 17 Sep 09 We chose this year to rent a villa in Villefranche in the south of France. The time away gave me the opportunity to do some thinking, and I tried to find the answer to the $500bn question: where did the money stolen from the Russian people in the greatest-ever era of corruption disappear to? And so, as Nikita enjoyed his first holiday, I realised that in France I could do my own investigation on this matter for Novaya Gazeta, the Moscow paper I co-own with Mikhail Gorbachev. Alexander Lebedev.

Villa Marina Irina (pictured above) was formerly known as 'Villa del Mare' and was the refuge of Zaire's former dictator Mobuto Sese Seko, who constructed the villa and lived between here and his Swiss home in his final years after being overthrown by Laurent Kabila. This article for the New Yorker magazine by Adam Hochschild, highlights some disturbing parallels between Mobutu and his villa on Cap Martin, and Belgium's King Leopold II and his former Villa Leopolda (see above) a few miles away in Villefranche/Cap Ferrat. RLTV.

The Last Days of the Oligarchs?  New York Times 7 Mar 09 Some oligarchs are so desperate that a group of metal executives made a pilgrimage to the Kremlin in January...oligarchs at the meeting (included) Mikhail D. Prokhorov, a metals investor known as the bachelor billionaire...Finans listed Mr. Prokhorov as the richest man (in Russia), with an estimated worth of $14.9 billion. Mr. Prohkorov may be reveling in schadenfreude: Mr. Putin’s team forced him to sell his stake in Norilsk Nickel to Mr. Deripaska last April, near the peak of the market. Mr. Prohkorov is now cash-rich, while Mr. Deripaska is left with billions in debt. Andrew E. Kramer.

Russian oligarchs forced to sell yachts and jets as worldwide recession bites  Telegraph.co.uk 22 Jan 09 Russian oligarchs hit by the global recession - including Roman Abramovich and Oleg Deripaska - are having to sell off yachts, private jets and holiday homes to raise cash. Miriam Elder & Gordon Rayner.

The Saga of Cap Ferrat Zoo

British property developer Robert Bourne has given up on his plans to re-develop the site that until recently housed the Cap Ferrat Zoo, however the future of the land is now up in the air. Local authorities are looking at an institutional buy back of this prime piece of real estate and at who would manage any eventual re-opening of the zoo. Check out the latest news here as we look at a step by step history of the battle to save the zoo.

Dictators Properties on the Cote d'Azur

The Cote d'Azur has housed a motley crew of dictators and despots. In this section we feature the properties of the late President of Gabon, El Hadj Omar Bongo; Zaire's former dictator Mobuto Sese Seko; Iraqi disctator Sadam Hussein and Belgian King Leopold II.

Le Provençal Delayed By Property Market Crash

This massive project in Juans les Pins was slated to open in 2010 with local developers confident that the sub-prime inspired global property crash would not touch the Cote d'Azur. However, rumours abounded that the project had ground to a halt and even that it was unviable in the current economic climate. To address these rumours, Provençal Investments SA issued a press statement announcing that the project was now 'due for completion 2012'.

Bernie Madoff's Riviera Assets

Last year people who had never met Bernie Madoff were queuing up to invest their wealth with him on the promise of secured returns. This year he is the scourge of the investmet world. The big question is how he got away with his $50bn 'Ponzi Scheme' scam for so long. Now US authorities want to seize his assets. His property on Cap d'Antibes is relatively modest valued at $1.6m. Madoff's $7m yacht 'Bull' is moored in the South of France.