Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov may be seeing more than a silver lining after former federal judge Thomas Fischer concluded that two Frankfurt prosecutors had committed a criminal offense by perverting the course of justice against the early Facebook investor. After sanctions were placed and his megayacht Dilbar was seized in 2022, based on public prosecutors’ allegations, heavily armed forces stormed empty villas on Lake Tegernsee where Usmanov was vacationing. It was here that officials found not one but four fake Fabergé eggs.
A couple of weeks later, German investigators confiscated rare paintings worth $5 million from the art-loving businessman’s seized $600 million megayacht Dilbar. Come May 2023, the Frankfurt Regional Court declared the searches unlawful based on mere assumptions. The Frankfurt District Court and the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office have filed a criminal complaint and a disciplinary complaint against the investigators. Georg Ungefuk, spokesman for the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor’s Office, told BILD: “I can confirm that the relevant department of our authority has received a complaint against the prosecutors involved in the investigation against a 70-year-old businessman from the Russian Federation. A decision on the complaint has not yet been made.”
With no case against the oligarch forming, chances are he might just get his beloved 512-foot protected home back. In August 2023, the sanctioned billionaire sued the German government for violating his human dignity. It seems now that the ball is indeed in his court.
