Nik Storonsky, the billionaire chief executive of digital banking giant Revolut, is facing a London lawsuit accusing him of deliberately cutting out a luxury yacht brokerage to avoid paying r
Nik Storonsky, the billionaire chief executive of digital banking giant Revolut, is facing a London lawsuit accusing him of deliberately cutting out a luxury yacht brokerage to avoid paying roughly €17.5 million (about $20.1 million) in commission fees on a superyacht purchase — a deal that reportedly involved a mysterious Brazilian former owner who was arrested for fraud while negotiations were underway.
The Allegations
Yacht brokerage firm Cecil Wright & Partners Ltd. filed the claim at the UK’s High Court, alleging that Storonsky’s family office approached the firm seeking a luxury vessel to purchase while a separate yacht he had previously commissioned remained under construction.
According to court filings, Cecil Wright says it identified a suitable option — but was then deliberately sidelined once Storonsky moved to finalize the purchase directly, bypassing the broker entirely and avoiding the standard commission owed on a deal of that size.
Court documents cite written correspondence between the two parties dating back to July 2025. According to the filing, Storonsky’s family office wrote to Cecil Wright: “While we are moving full speed on the newbuild, we want to explore the opportunity to acquire a boat while we are waiting for construction to finalize.” Cecil Wright responded enthusiastically, telling the family office: “We would be absolutely delighted to assist with this.”
The Yacht’s Unusual Ownership History
The vessel at the center of the dispute has a convoluted ownership trail. According to the lawsuit, the yacht was originally commissioned by Patrick Dovigi, a Canadian businessman and former professional ice hockey player. During construction, ownership rights were sold to a Brazilian buyer, whose identity remains undisclosed in court filings.
Cecil Wright identified the yacht — then still under construction at a shipyard in Schacht-Audorf, Germany, with expected delivery in May 2026 — as a strong match for Storonsky’s requirements. After personally inspecting the vessel, Storonsky’s office reportedly offered approximately €300 million to acquire it. Just weeks later, however, the Brazilian owner was arrested on fraud-related allegations, throwing the sale into limbo. Prior to his arrest, the Brazilian owner had been seeking €350 million for the yacht.
Following the arrest, Dovigi reacquired rights to the vessel and, according to the lawsuit, negotiated its direct sale to Storonsky — this time without any broker involved in the transaction.
The Core Legal Claim
Cecil Wright’s lawyers allege that Storonsky and Dovigi structured the final transaction specifically to exclude any brokerage involvement, thereby avoiding the substantial commission fees typically attached to superyacht sales of this scale and simultaneously reducing the final purchase price. The legal filing frames this as a deliberate maneuver to sideline the firm that had originally identified and facilitated interest in the vessel.
Representatives for Storonsky’s family office have pushed back firmly on the allegations. A spokesperson stated that the claim is “without merit and will be defended,” though formal legal defense documents had not yet been submitted to the court as of publication. Storonsky himself has not issued any personal public comment on the lawsuit. Dovigi did not respond to requests for comment.
Who Is Nik Storonsky
Storonsky co-founded Revolut in 2015, building it into one of the world’s most valuable financial technology companies. The platform allows users to manage money, hold and exchange multiple currencies, send international transfers, and trade stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrency through a single mobile application. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Storonsky is currently the United Kingdom’s richest person, with an estimated net worth of approximately $20.4 billion.
A Rare Look Inside the Superyacht Industry
Beyond the specific financial dispute, the lawsuit offers an unusually detailed public glimpse into the notoriously opaque world of ultra-luxury yacht transactions. Deals of this magnitude — often worth hundreds of millions of dollars — are typically arranged privately through family offices, informal communications such as WhatsApp messages, and offshore corporate structures, with minimal public disclosure of pricing, ownership changes, or brokerage arrangements.
The case also highlights the risks inherent in that opacity: a yacht changing hands multiple times during construction, passing between a Canadian businessman, an undisclosed Brazilian buyer later arrested for fraud, and ultimately one of Europe’s most prominent fintech billionaires, all while the vessel’s true valuation shifted from €350 million to roughly €300 million amid the ownership turmoil.
What Happens Next
The case is now proceeding through the UK’s High Court, where Storonsky’s legal team is expected to file a formal defense contesting Cecil Wright’s claims. Given Storonsky’s public profile as both a fintech industry leader and Britain’s wealthiest individual, the dispute is likely to draw continued attention — both for what it reveals about high-end yacht brokerage practices and for how it may affect perceptions of Storonsky at a time when Revolut continues to expand its global banking and crypto trading operations.
