Bloomberg interviewed five international lawyers specializing in sanctions, and they believe it will be difficult to recover this money. BGP Litigation partner Sergey Glandin said that as long as Friedman remains under US and UK sanctions, his ability to receive dividends and other economic benefits will be limited, and European banks and other financial institutions will likely wait for special licenses from the US and Britain because of the risk of secondary sanctions.
For Friedman, this is especially important because of LetterOne — the company he created with partners and which is based in London. LetterOne welcomed the EU decision and repeated that it does not consider the sanctions justified, but said this does not change the group’s strategy or management structure because US and UK sanctions legislation continues to apply. At the end of 2025, assets under LetterOne’s management amounted to $21.5 billion, and unpaid dividends to sanctioned shareholders totaled nearly $500 million. In 2022, Friedman’s stake in the Luxembourg companies LetterOne Holdings and LetterOne Investment Holdings was 37.9%.
Separately, Bloomberg recalls Friedman’s $16 billion lawsuit against Luxembourg over assets frozen in the country, which was being considered in arbitration court. Luxembourg asked its EU partners to lift the sanctions and said its position in the dispute with Friedman would weaken if Usmanov were removed from restrictions. The question remains open whether Friedman will withdraw his lawsuit.
According to Bloomberg, Usmanov has no significant assets registered in Europe, although local authorities have seized several of his homes. In March 2022, authorities in Hamburg, Germany seized his 156-meter yacht Dilbar. In March 2025, the EU lifted sanctions on his sister Gulbahor Ismailova, and in June 2026 a court in Frankfurt ruled to remove Dilbar from sanctions, stating that the trust owner could not be identified and that Ismailova was no longer on the EU blacklist.
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