Billion dollar divorce makes history
Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev and his ex-wife Elena on Tuesday announced they had reached a deal to settle their divorce, which had been dubbed the costliest break-up of all time.
In May 2014, a Swiss court awarded Elena Rybolovlev over four billion Swiss francs ($4.2 billion, 3.6 billion euros) -- the equivalent of half his fortune, in their divorce, which at the time was dubbed the divorce of the century.
On Tuesday the pair said in a joint statement that they had "reached an agreement on the terms of the divorce" in a move they said "puts an end to all legal procedures launched in different jurisdictions."
The statement did not specify the amount agreed upon.
The agreement came after a Geneva appeals court in June overturned the 2014 ruling, downgrading the payment required from the owner of French football club AS Monaco to 564 million Swiss francs, along with two real estate holdings.
One of the contentious points was Rybolovlev's worth, as he had transferred shares in 2005 to a trust and then sold them three years later at a huge profit.
His ex-wife's lawyers argued that the appeals court calculated his net worth on the basis of the 2005 figures and not the 2008 ones.
They appealed the June ruling to the country's highest court, but following the agreement announced Tuesday, the court will no longer be called upon to rule in the case.
The couple married in Cyprus and were together for 23 years, but have been battling over the terms of their divorce since 2008.
On Wednesday the former couple’s daughter Ekaterina, a 26-year-old socialite show jumper, was due to be married to businessman Juan Sartori on the Greek island of Skorpios, which belongs to the family.
Dmitry Rybolovlev has recently made headlines over his conflict with a Swiss art dealer, Yves Bouvier.
The Russian tycoon, a big collector of art, has accused Bouvier of selling him works by the likes of Picasso, Modigliani, Degas and Gauguin at hugely inflated prices.
