Russian woman and ex-husband spent £5m on lawyers in court fight, judge told

Mr Justice Mostyn heard that Alla Rakshina and Lazaros Xanthopoulos , who are both in their 40s, had spent the money in less than two years.
Detail view of a barrister holding a legal wig (Clara Molden/PA)
PA Archive
Brian Farmer30 March 2022

A Russian businesswoman and her Greek ex-husband have run up lawyers’ bills of £5.5 million during a London family court fight over children and money, a judge has heard.

Mr Justice Mostyn was told that Alla Rakshina and Lazaros Xanthopoulos, who are both in their 40s, had spent the money in less than two years.

He said such an amount spent in such a period was “unprecedented”.

The judge aired his thoughts when considering the latest stage of the dispute at a hearing in London on Wednesday.

“I have never known a case where £5.5 million costs have been run up in … 17 months,” said Mr Justice Mostyn, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London.

“It is absolutely unprecedented.”

Mr Xanthopoulos, who represented himself, with help from a friend, at Wednesday’s hearing, wants a payout from his ex-wife following the breakdown of their marriage.

His friend told the judge that Ms Rakshina had links to more than 30 companies and was the “75th richest person in Russia” and suggested that she had run up most of the legal costs.

A hallway at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London (Aaron Chown/PA)
PA Wire

The judge, who considered a number of legal issues at Wednesday’s hearing, was told that Mr Xanthopoulos and Ms Rakshina had lived in London and been married for 15 years.

Lawyers said the couple’s dispute over money was at an early stage.

Detail of how much Mr Xanthopoulos, who had been represented by lawyers at earlier stages of the dispute, wants to walk away with was not aired at Wednesday’s hearing.

Barrister Simon Calhaem, who led Ms Rakshina’s legal team, told the judge that the issue at the centre of the dispute would be the worth of “resources in Russia”.

Mr Calhaem said Ms Rakshina was paying alimony to Mr Xanthopoulos pending the conclusion of the dispute.

He said Ms Rakshina was not subject to sanctions.

But he said her “salary” was paid in Russia and had reduced from £5,000 a month to £3,500 a month following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Mr Justice Mostyn oversaw a private hearing.

He said journalists could attend and said Mr Xanthopoulos and Ms Rakshina could be named in media reports of the case.

The judge said their children could not be named.

A spokeswoman for Mr Xanthopoulos said, after the hearing, that he had been a “house husband” during the marriage.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in