JPMorgan Chase & Co., the biggest U.S. bank, is behind court moves to seize a superyacht owned by a sanctioned Russian billionaire in Gibraltar.
In one of the first public court actions by a bank to enforce on a debt against a sanctioned individual, JPMorgan won a court order authorizing Gibraltar's port authority to detain the 73-meter (240-foot) yacht Axioma owned by Dmitry Pumpyansky.
The 5-deck Axioma, which boasts an infinity swimming pool plus a 3D cinema, was impounded last week. Officials in the British territory said that while they wouldn't normally have allowed the yacht to enter Gibraltar waters given Pumpyansky's ownership, they seized the vessel "in the interests of creditors with proper claims."
"JPMorgan is acting pursuant to its mortgage rights," a spokesman for the Gibraltar government said in a statement Monday. A JPMorgan spokesman declined to comment.
Pumpyansky was sanctioned by the European Union on March 10 and by the U.K. some five days later and, like other tycoons targeted, has sought to restructure his key assets.
