Former Everton Director loses sanctions challenge in High Court

Sarvar Ismailov, nephew of Alisher Usmanov, was briefly appointed to the Board of Directors at Everton FC back in 2019, but has lost his sanctions challenge in the High Court after claiming that it was "outrageously unfair" that he was being sanctioned "simply for being his uncle's nephew".

Ismailov, who was born in Uzbekistan, joined Everton in 2019 and took up a position on the club's board in the summer of 2021, but stood down from this role and other positions at the club that November after being charged with a criminal offence, which was later dropped.

Ismailov's assets were frozen when he was sanctioned in July 2022, months after the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia that had triggered the sanctioning of his uncle and Russian oligarch, Alisher Usmanov, who had been a major Everton sponsor through his close relationship with former owner Farhad Moshiri.

The Foreign Office defended the claim, with its barristers telling the High Court in London that sanctioning people based on familial relations "serves several rational and legitimate purposes".

Mr Justice Pushpinder Saini dismissed Ismailov's claim, finding the Foreign Office was "uniquely well-placed to assess whether sanctions decisions would achieve their intended purpose" and that the decision was not "irrational".

» Read the full article at BBC North West

---

Reader Comments (1)

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

How to get rid of these ads and support TW