It's half time for Red Rom
By MARTIN PHILLIPS
Senior Feature Writer
October 17, 2006
ROMAN Abramovich is the man with the Midas touch but he may be
about to get his Goldfingers burned.
From being a penniless orphan and later selling toys from a market
stall, he cashed in on the privatisation of Russias state
aluminium and oil assets to amass an £11BILLION fortune.
More recently he has turned Chelsea FCs fortunes to gold, rescuing
them from near bankruptcy to make them league champions.
Meanwhile, in the gossip columns in her native Russia, his friend
Daria Zhukova nicknamed Dasha is regarded as a leading member
of the zolotaya molodyozh the gilded youth, as the children of
Russias new rich are known.
She has been living up to her gilded reputation with
Abramovich.
The tycoon invited her to stay on his £72million superyacht
Pelorus, it was revealed yesterday.
Stunning Daria at the centre of claims that Red Roms marriage to
Irina is in trouble joined him as the ship visited the
Maldives.
The 23-year-old brunette wowed fellow guests and crew members by
stripping down to a black bikini on the vessels sumptuous sun
deck.
She lapped up the luxury of her own suite in the guest quarters
while being pampered by legions of the Russian oil moguls
staff.
Abramovich who turns 40 next week has spent less and less time
on his incredible floating palace in recent months. But Irina, 39,
and his five children have regularly flown out to spend time on
board.
In Russia Irina is known as someone in a zolotaya kletka golden
cage due to the constraints put upon her by her husbands wealth,
and the resulting security concerns.
The tycoon has met Daria all over the world since their friendship
blossomed earlier this year.
The sexy brunette an ex of Lord Freddie Windsor and Russian
tennis ace Marat Safin joined him in Barcelona for a Chelsea
Champions League match in March.
Since then she has watched Blues home games from a private
executive box at Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea owner also invited her and her father, Alexander
Zhukov, to a New Year party.
Speculation is now rife that a costly divorce could be on the
cards.
Some reports say that Irina, mother of Abramovichs five children,
had already consulted London solicitor Raymond Tooth before news of
her husbands friendship with Dasha emerged.
Mr Tooth, known as Jaws, is the boss of Sears Tooth one of
Britains top divorce law firms.
The company acted for Cheryl Barrymore in her split from husband
Michael, for Sadie Frost in her break-up from Jude Law, and for
Eimear Montgomerie in her divorce from golfer Colin.
Mr Tooth has engaged the services of £500-an-hour barrister
Nicholas Mostyn QC, known in legal circles as Mr Payout because
of his success rate.
Mr Mostyn won £4million for former England football star Ray
Parlours wife Karen, including half his future earnings, and he is
also acting for Sir Paul McCartney in his divorce from Heather
Mills.
Links to Mr Tooth were yesterday strenuously denied by Abramovichs
camp. In a carefully worded statement, a spokesman said: No member
of the Abramovich family has filed suit for divorce, nor have they
retained the law firm of Sears Tooth or any other law firm
regarding a possible divorce. Suggestions that the Abramovichs are
facing serious difficulties are similarly untrue.
But rumours continue to abound. In the event of a divorce, any
lawyers hardest job might be to locate all of Abramovichs
assets.
The billionaire is famously secretive about his business dealings
and many of his companies, including the business which owns
Chelsea, are registered in the British Virgin Islands.
More obvious are some of the trappings of his wealth, including
Chelsea, which he bought for £140million in 2003 and on which he
spent £146million last year alone.
In London Abramovich is believed to own at least six properties
with a combined value of more than £30million. He has a flat in
Lowndes Square, and four others nearby, plus a house in
Belgravia.
He has a 400-acre estate at Fyning Hill in Sussex which is reckoned
to be worth £18million, a £15million French chateau and a 104-acre
estate near Moscow worth £8million.
As well as houses, the worlds 11th richest man has three
mega-yachts, and an even bigger £100million gigayacht on
order.
Current flagship of his fleet is the Pelorus, which has bulletproof
glass and its own submarine.
The Ecstasea, also worth £72million, has its own pool and Turkish
bath.
A third cruiser, Le Grand Blue, cost a modest £60million and is
used mainly for staff.
He also has his own aircraft a £56million Boeing 767, a
£28million Boeing business jet and two helicopters worth
£35million.
Irina, who has been married to Abramovich for 15 years, was with
him even before he made his fortune, when she had a good job as an
international air stewardess for Aeroflot, so she could credibly
claim to have helped him amass the fortune.
Indeed, when all of her husbands money had failed to attract
Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko to Chelsea from AC Milan, it
was Irina who was credited with clinching the deal after she
befriended the footballers American model wife Kristin
Pazik.
The Abramoviches both dote on their children, but that means Irina
prefers to take a time-consuming hands-on role rather than rely on
nannies.
Her biggest advantage in any divorce dealings might be her
husbands desire to reach agreement and avoid court hearings in
which his assets and business dealings might be picked over in
detail. Meanwhile, as hints of divorce hit the news, Daria was in
Moscow rather than her usual penthouse home in Kensington, which is
owned by her father Alexander.
He now holds a British passport and operates his oil business from
a suite of offices in Park Lane, but Daria, according to friends,
was never tempted to join the family firm.
Her mother, a scientist who lectured at Oxford and separated from
her husband when Daria was three, put her daughter into private
school in Britain and then sent her to the US to finish her
education.
After leaving school Daria did a homeopathy course in London plus
some modelling before launching her own line of casual clothing
called Kova and T.
By the time the News of the World reported her friendship with the
Chelsea owner last week in spite of his failed attempts to get a
court injunction to stop them his wife had already consulted
lawyers.
If she takes it all the way, the lawyers could be looking at a game
of two halves.
And Irinas half could be worth more than £5BILLION.
