The Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) searched a motor yacht in northern Germany on May 3, 2023, as part of an investigation against a 67-year-old entrepreneur from the Russian Federation. According to Der Spiegel the person of interest is Russian oligarch Farchad Achmedow.
Farchad Achmedow was subject to sanctions by a European Union legal act in April 2022. He is suspected of violating legally mandated reporting requirements to the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control following his inclusion on the EU sanctions list. During the period in question, he allegedly failed to report significant assets he is believed to have had in the Federal Republic of Germany to the appropriate German authorities.
Over 30 investigators from the Intervention Reserve of the Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt am Main, the Federal Criminal Police Office, the Hamburg State Criminal Police Office, the Federal Police, and experts from the German Navy of the Federal Armed Forces participated in the search operation.
Investigators secured paintings and other art objects on the ship in Hamburg Harbor with an estimated total value of several million euros. A spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor's Office in Frankfurt confirmed the seizure of valuables on the yacht in response to Der Spiegel.