Alisher Usmanov’s Armored Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Seized In Italy

Superyachts and mansions aren’t the only possessions the governments around the world are seizing from Russian oligarchs. As Alisher Usmanov now knows, luxury cars are also a fair game. Now he has been left without his armored Mercedes-Maybach S-Class.
 

Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov is worth $13 billion, and his lifestyle proves it. He owns the world’s biggest motor yacht by both volume and tonnage, the Dilbar, which is worth $600 million. Well, the vessel is no longer in his possession, as the authorities have seized the yacht in early March in Hamburg, Germany.
 
Now, there’s another belonging of his that ended up in the authorities’ hands: an armored Mercedes-Maybach S-Class.
 
The former Arsenal shareholder had a Mercedes-Maybach S 650 Guard with VR10 protection level, which is estimated to be worth $670,000 (€600,000). The luxury car was reportedly built to withstand bullets and explosives.
 
Unluckily for him, it has been recently confiscated by the police in Porto Cervo on the Costa Smeralda of Sardinia, according to a report by the Corriere della Sera on Tuesday.
 
The seizing of the black Mercedes-Maybach S 650 Guard comes as part of the EU and U.S.’s sanctions against Russian oligarchs with close links to the Russian Head of State, Vladimir Putin.
 
Reports made by the same Italian outlet claim Usmanov let Putin use his armored luxury Maybach during his “secret visits” to Sardinia, as the Italian island is very popular among the wealthy Russians.
 
Roberto Ragnedda, the mayor of Arzachena, told the Italian press in early March that the Russian oligarch regularly hosted “heads of state, businessmen and personalities who played fundamental roles in the economy, culture, politics and property at a world level.” He has also reportedly donated €500,000 ($558,000) to the authorities of the island to help fight the pandemic.
 
L’Unione Sarda, a local newspaper, also reported that authorities also seized a property complex worth €17 million ($19 million) in the Gulf of Pevero, and six corporate cars that belong to Alisher Usmanov.