A French company linked to Alisher Usmanov is being sued for €7.4 million. According to the Cheka-OGPU and Rucriminal.info, Omnia Antibes owes this amount for renting berths for the Kremlin oligarch's yacht, Dilbar, on the French Riviera, in Antibes' Port Vauban, one of the world's most popular destinations for superyacht owners. Locals nicknamed this embankment "Billionaires' Quay," and the yachts of Russian oligarchs occupied the most prestigious berths there. Usmanov's famous yacht, Dilbar, regularly docked at Vauban and was often photographed by ubiquitous tourists. However, due to Antibes's incredible popularity, there aren't enough berths for everyone—for example, Roman Abramovich was once unable to moor his Eclipse there because all the berths in the port were occupied. Usmanov, however, took a radical approach and simply purchased the berths for 23 years in advance.
Interestingly, the lease for Usmanov's company was arranged in defiance of French law. And here, as in many Usmanov-related cases, there's a whiff of corruption.
Usmanov's Omnia Antibes is headed by Alisher Burkhanovich's financial advisor, 57-year-old Sergides Demetrios, a Greek from Monaco. He has worked for Usmanov for about 20 years, and from 2009 to 2012, he was officially affiliated with Usmanov's MegaFon, and since 2013, with Ural Steel. For many years, Demetrios helped Usmanov and his family purchase foreign real estate. He also manages the Usmanov family foundation, The Sister Trust, which is owned by the billionaire and his sister, Gulbahor Ismailova. Furthermore, Sergides serves on the boards of directors of Usmanov's Cypriot offshore companies. According to the Panama Papers leaks, he was once the owner of part of the offshore company USM Telecom Holdings Limited (British Virgin Islands).
Sergides Demetrios, along with the French company Omnia Antibes, was naturally subject to US sanctions in 2023. However, at the end of 2025, the US, for some reason, lifted the sanctions on both the company and Usmanov's top manager without explanation.
The French company Vauban 21 is demanding €7.4 million from Omnia Antibes. In December 2016, the municipality of Antibes granted management of a public marina in the famous Port Vauban. The agreement was for 25 years. That same year, Usmanov's yacht, Dilbar, docked in Antibes for the first time. Reportedly, the berth was too small for it and had to be extended. However, Vauban is a popular port, and no one would reserve the berth for Usmanov. Therefore, in July 2018, Omnia Antibes signed a 23.5-year contract with Vauban 21 (until December 30, 2041), granting it priority mooring rights for two yachts. Usmanov's company was supposed to pay in five years' installments in advance, and even paid one installment. However, the French company did not receive its €6.3 million payment on January 1, 2023. Apparently due to sanctions against Usmanov, Vauban 21 sued Omnia Antibes that same summer, demanding termination of the contract, but the court refused to hear the dispute. In the summer of 2025, Vauban 21 filed another lawsuit, this time demanding that Usmanov's managers repay the lease payments—especially since Omnia Antibes's €1.15 million security deposit was already frozen in a special fund.
And then, interesting facts emerged in court. Firstly, according to the French Transport Code, public moorings can be allocated to private pleasure yachts for no longer than one year—but Usmanov's yachts were granted a mooring for 23.5 years. Secondly, for long-term leases, the yacht owner must guarantee a significant investment in municipal property, and all contracts in this case must be processed through the port administration. Thirdly, and most importantly, Vauban 21 had no right to lease the berth to a third party without revising the tariffs and obtaining the approval of the municipal council. However, as it turned out, Vauban 21 had simply reached a behind-the-scenes agreement with Antibes Mayor Jean Leonetti, who, bypassing the municipality and the port administration, gave written consent to the contract with Usmanov's company. It's unknown who subsequently obtained the city council's approval and how, but it was only received in March 2019. Leonetti, incidentally, has been mayor longer than Putin has been president. And income from the port is the main source of income for the city budget.
The Nice Court, which heard this dispute through a summary procedure, rejected both parties' arguments and decided that a more thorough investigation was required, so this story is not yet over.
As for Sergides Dimetrios, he undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief after the lifting of US sanctions. Now it will be easier for him to oversee the board of directors of Usmanov's Swiss company, Pomerol Capital SA, which manages The Sister Trust. After Pomerol was added to the US sanctions list in 2023, one of its directors, Stella-Lee Mitchell-Voisin, left, but a second director, 47-year-old Amanda Clare Usher-Wilson, remained. She is also a well-known figure in professional circles. She holds passports Although she is a UK and Swiss citizen, she was not subject to sanctions and continues to manage Usmanov's assets. Furthermore, Ms. Asher-Wilson has also taken the assets of other famous and wealthy individuals under her wing. According to Kazakh investigators, she is one of the agents who created a network of offshore companies for the family of Dariga Nazarbayeva, the daughter of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. These companies registered assets in London, which were acquired by Dariga's husband, Rakhat Aliyev. According to official reports, he committed suicide in an Austrian prison in 2015, before his trial. The seizure of these assets was unsuccessful precisely because an entire network of nominees was created, which, at first glance, had no connection with the true beneficiaries.
Interestingly, Vladimir Palikhata, a Russian citizen connected to another criminal case involving Usmanov's stepson, Nathan Viner, was implicated in Nazarbayeva's purchase of mansions on Baker Street using millions siphoned off from Kazakhstan. A building in London was registered to Palikhata for a time before being transferred to Nazarbayeva's offshore company, headed by nominees.
Following this, Palikhata was mentioned in connection with the attempted corporate takeover of Shchelkovo-Agrokhim in 2021 by a group of former employees. They transferred their ownership to Usmanov's stepson, Nathan Viner, at Russian Agrarian Company and attempted to wrest the company's shares for him. It is believed that Palikhata was the one who took on the criminal cases against the perpetrators of the corporate raid: Elmira Iraidova, former commercial director of Shchelkovo Agrokhim, and Lyudmila Prikhodko, former chief accountant. However, his mission was not particularly successful – both were sentenced to prison terms in December 2023. And the Russian Agrarian Company, which Viner co-founded with Dmitry Bortnikov, the son of the head of the FSB, quietly and successfully liquidated itself in 2024.
