A Russian oil tycoon was given a suspended sentence of 28 days in prison in his absence in London on Monday for contempt of court after repeatedly failing to comply with legal orders in a bitter multi-million dollar divorce case, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
Judge Richard Harrison said last week that Mikhail Krupeev, head of energy company "Gulfsands" (Gulfsands), has failed to comply with a series of court orders issued following the breakdown of his 36-year marriage to his wife Elena Krupeeva.
Harrison said Krupeev, who now lives in Cyprus and did not appear in court in person today despite a court order, was "arrogant, overbearing and deeply disrespectful to both his wife and the court".
The judge imposed a 28-day suspended sentence requiring Krupeev to comply with an order to pay just over 195,000 pounds ($266,000) to cover Krupeeva's legal costs.
Krupeev has also been granted a freezing order against him of 38 million pounds ($51.8 million) of his assets in the divorce case, which Krupeeva's legal team say will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. millions.
His ex-wife's lawyers claim in court documents that the couple split under "tumultuous" circumstances after Krupeeva discovered in 2023 that her then-husband had been leading a double life with a secret second family in Russia for most of the past 20 years.
The couple, Mikhail and Elena Krupeeva, who are Russian citizens but also hold British citizenship, moved to the UK in 1993.
In addition to the energy company "Gulfsands", which Krupeeva's lawyers say had a contract to export oil from Syria, Mikhail Krupeeva's other business interests include the company "Jupiter Energy", which exports oil and gas to Kazakhstan, as well as "Waterford Finance" (Waterford Finance), which specializes in energy projects.
According to Krupeeva's lawyers, the couple's assets also include a house in London worth 15 million British pounds (over 20 million dollars), luxury homes in Portugal and Turkey, as well as properties in Russia worth 10 million British pounds (over 13 million dollars).