A German court has ruled in favor of Lürssen in a lawsuit it filed against a government agency. The lawsuit is over a requirement that the yacht Dilbar remain frozen at the yard. The court holds that authorities fell short of proving that Dilbar was still subject to an EU asset-freeze provision and the identity of the beneficial owner. The court therefore orders the government to formally declare that Lürssen has no obligation to treat her as a frozen economic resource.
The Frankfurt Administrative Court handed down the decision on June 11. It impacts not only Lürssen, but also the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) and the German Central Sanctions Enforcement Office (ZfS). Among other duties, BAFA serves as Germany’s main administrative and licensing authority for economic sanctions and trade embargoes. ZfS is the enforcement body for sanctions.
The German government “impounded” the 512-footer (156-meter) in Lürssen’s shipyard in April 2022. Court records show that the yacht belongs to a Cyprus-based company, ultimately for the benefit of D Trust, an anonymized name in the documents. Also anonymized are Mr. X, the D Trust beneficiary until December 2017, and Ms. Y, his sister, who thereafter became the trust beneficiary. The European Union (EU) sanctioned Mr. X in February 2022, with Ms. Y sanctioned in April 2022. Since German authorities consequently treated Dilbar as a frozen economic resource, she sat in Lürssen’s Hamburg facilities. Prosecutors warned that accepting payment from the registered owner might require authorization. This left Lürssen reluctant to issue invoices or accept funds while the sanctions status remained uncertain. It ultimately maintained and stored her at its own cost.
However, in March 2025, the EU officially removed Ms. Y from the sanctions list. Yet, Lürssen continued incurring unpaid maintenance costs, plus was unable to use that shed space for other projects. In July 2025, the shipyard petitioned BAFA to confirm it no longer needed to keep the yacht Dilbar frozen. BAFA rejected the claim that September, saying that ZfS held the only authority to do so. This led Lürssen to sue BAFA in the Frankfurt Administrative Court.
In the court ruling, the judges point to Ms. Y no longer being under sanctions. Additionally, they conclude that the evidence doesn’t establish a currently sanctioned person owns or controls the yacht. Notably, the court says, none of the evidence before it or from BAFA definitively establishes the ownership and control structure. According to the judges, uncertainty isn’t enough to justify requiring that the yacht Dilbar remain frozen at Lürssen. The judges indicate that if the government had additional intelligence supporting the freeze, it didn’t present details to the court. They further clarify that BAFA governs object-based sanctions questions—whether a specific yacht is frozen, for example. ZfS, meanwhile, handles person-based sanctions enforcement involving listed individuals. As a result, BAFA is responsible for issuing the specific status that Lürssen requested.
The case may not be over, though, since the government can appeal the court decision. Regardless, the ruling removes a principal legal barrier preventing Lürssen from seeking reimbursement for years of maintenance and storage costs for Dilbar.
Separately, the press office of Alisher Usmanov, previously reported as the beneficial owner, sent a statement. “Alisher Usmanov welcomes the ruling made by the Frankfurt am Main Administrative Court on June 11, 2026 in favor of the Lürssen shipyard in the lawsuit against the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA). This ruling debunks libelous claims about ‘hidden control’ and trust arrangements being used by Alisher Usmanov to conceal his assets.” It adds that Usmanov established an irrevocable trust to own and control important family assets, including the yacht, for estate planning. The trust is “in full compliance with applicable law,” it continues, with an independent trustee managing it. “Neither Alisher Usmanov nor his sister Gulbakhor Ismailova has any title to the assets held by the trust or receives any benefits from it.”
The statement further reads, “Sadly, Germany’s law enforcement agencies have wasted more than four years on a fruitless search for non-existent evidence of ‘ownership’ and ‘control’ as part of several simultaneous investigations targeting Alisher Usmanov, most of which have been closed without filing an indictment and maintaining the presumption of innocence. The ruling of the Frankfurt am Main Administrative Court closes the book on the matter.”
