Uber rich Russian Oligarch ordered to pay $4.5 billion divorce settlement. Cyprus may save his ass.

A Swiss court has ordered the Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev to pay more than $4.5 billion to his soon to be ex-wife who he has been married to since 1987. His net worth is estimated at $8.8 billion.

Lawyers for Rybolovlev’s wife called the record judgment “a complete victory” for her and said that under Swiss law she was entitled to half the fortune he made during their marriage.

Rybolovlev’s lawyer however praised the judgment for “confirming both the validity of the trusts created by Mr. Rybolovlev and the validity of the asset transfer to them that occurred long before his wife initiated divorce proceedings.”

The kicker, his fortune is locked up in Cyprus-based trusts since 2005 (well before the divorce process began), and while the Geneva court had provisionally frozen Rybolovlev’s assets in Switzerland and abroad, it may prove difficult for his ex to obtain the money because Switzerland has no legal aid treaty with Cyprus. Checkmate Russian Oligarch?

What lessons can we common folk learn from such rulings? Let us turn to the red pill wisdom of Chris Rock to explain that, even though the wealthy pay up the nose in divorce settlements, it’s the regular guys who need to be extra careful when divorce rears its ugly head.

You got 20 million and your wife want 10, big deal! You ain’t starvin’. But if you make 30,000… and your wife want 15, you might have to kill her.