The Hamburg Regional Court ruled in favour of Uzbek-Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov in a lawsuit against a German citizen who claimed on Facebook that Usmanov had used his sister, Saodat Narzieva, to conceal assets in a Swiss bank, his lawyer said.

The ruling is notable for striking down allegations similar to those that underpinned EU and UK sanctions imposed on Narzieva, a gynaecologist in Tashkent, in April 2022. Those measures relied on reporting by The Guardian and the investigative consortium OCCRP, which alleged that Usmanov had transferred “significant assets” to his sister and that she “owned 27 accounts in Swiss banks linked to her brother.”

In September 2025, a German citizen posted on Facebook that Usmanov had “used his sister as the beneficial owner of accounts at Credit Suisse.” Usmanov challenged the statement in court, which found the claim to be unlawful and a violation of his rights. The disputed post has since been removed.

Usmanov and his sister have denied claims that assets were transferred to her via accounts at Credit Suisse. An investigation by bne IntelliNews found that these allegations stemmed from a misinterpretation of leaked and incomplete account data, which for technical reasons displayed Narzieva’s name for the brief period of time when she was one of a number of minority shareholders of companies tied to the bank accounts.

The investigation, based on extensive review of account data from 2006 to 2014, found that at no time did Narzieva have control over or access to the accounts.

In a rare backtrack, the EU Council removed Narzieva from its sanctions list in September 2022. The UK sanctions against her remain in place.

“This is not the first time that an EU court has confirmed that accusations against Mr. Usmanov or his relatives are not backed up by facts,” said media lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel, who represents Usmanov. “Sanctions and reputations should not be built on journalistic errors. The Hamburg court’s judgment, together with the fact that the EU Council has already removed Ms. Narzieva from its sanctions list, shows that restrictive measures against her were introduced on false grounds and should now be lifted in all other jurisdictions where they remain in force.”