Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, American celebrities who recently started dating again, spent a weekend in the Mediterranean on a luxurious yacht reportedly belonging to Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in Ukraine with a net worth of $7.4 billion, according to the British tabloid Daily Mail.
The couple flew to the French Riviera from Los Angeles on a private jet on July 24 to celebrate Lopez’s 52nd birthday.
The celebrities chose Valerie, an 85-meter yacht that, according to Daily Mail, belongs to Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. Superyachts Fan, a watchdog website that monitors the ownership of luxury yachts and private jets, also links Valerie to Akhmetov.
Akhmetov’s spokesperson, however, denied the connection.
“This is not true. This yacht has nothing to do with Rinat Akhmetov and/or the companies he controls,” Anna Terekhova, Akhmetov’s press secretary, told the Kyiv Post.
(L) Ben Affleck and (R) Jennifer Lopez photographed spending a romantic weekend on a fancy yacht called Valerie, allegedly owned by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, in the Mediterranean on July 24-25, 2021. (Jennifer Lopez/Instagram)
The yacht is owned by Kaalbye Shipping Ukraine, a company registered in Odesa, a city on the Black Sea coast in southern Ukraine.
Kaalbye Shipping Ukraine is a part of Kaalbye Group Holding, registered in Panama. Both firms were dissolved in 2019.
In 2012, Kaalbye Group Holding became a co-founder of another Odesa-registered company called the Ukrainian Sea Agency. Its beneficial owner, Ruslan Merzlyakov, is a director of Svit, a company Rinat Akhmetov co-owned before 2019.
Valerie was built in 2011 and went through a substantial refit in 2019. Right after, the owners put it on sale via Dynamiq Brokerage, a Monaco-based service for superyachts sales and charters, which estimated Valerie at 110 million euros.
It is unclear how much the celebrities paid for their weekend on the yacht since the rental price is revealed only by private inquiry.
The yacht has six decks and can accommodate up to 17 guests and 27 crew members.
A gym with a panoramic view, a spa with a hammam, and a private sundeck with a six-meter water pool are among the features of the yacht.
The foredeck has enough room for a helicopter to land.
The yacht is currently sailing under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
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