Saw in the paper today, couldn't help but
Wife to get $2.5 billion March 16, 2007 12:00am
RUSSIAN billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich has settled what is reportedly the biggest divorce settlement in history: a $2.5 billion payout to his former air hostess wife Irina.
Yet as costly as that sounds, Mr Abramovich has saved himself billions by getting his wife of 15 years to divorce in Russia.
Had they divorced in London, where they live, she could have claimed half his fortune.
But Mr Abramovich would have paid just $10 to get the quickie divorce in Moscow and saved himself $2.5 million in legal fees.
"If there is mutual consent, the divorce can be agreed straight away," said Russian divorce lawyer Catherine Kalaschkikova. "The parties don't even need to go to court."
The payment is believed to at least equal the biggest in history, matching the $2.5 billion paid by US media mogul Sumner Redstone five years ago.
But while $2.5 billion has been most commonly mentioned, some experts say the payment from Mr Abramovich's $27.5 billion empire was as high as $5 billion.
Forbes magazine rates him the 16th richest man in the world.
Part of the deal includes Mr Abramovich giving Irina the $44 million Sussex estate he bought from the late Kerry Packer.
It is believed Mr Abramovich, 40, sought to end their marriage after close friend Russian President Vladimir Putin told him to "clean up his act" because Mr Abramovich was having a relationship with a younger woman.
News of the divorce broke after French paparazzi snapped photos of Mr Abramovich with former model Daria Zhukova, 25, in Paris this week.
The photos were quickly withdrawn, and Mr Abramovich's lawyer confirmed he had been divorced in Russia a month ago.
By then Mr Abramovich and Ms Zhukova, ex-girlfriend of Russian tennis star Marat Safin, were already considered an item. They have been seen together at Chelsea soccer games and at other events since mid last year.
Once aware of this, Mr Putin is said to have intervened.
"Abramovich and Putin are incredibly close," said Mr Abramovich's biographer Chris Hutchins, who is working on Mr Putin's life story.
"Putin is a real family man. When the rumours about Abramovich's private life started surfacing last year, Putin told him to get his act cleaned up."
The couple married in 1991 and have five children. Irina, 39, was expected to take their children back to Russia.
source: Herald Sun our leading newspaper in Melbourne.
