The battle for the luxe Amanresorts continues to rage — with the high-profile friends of part-owner Vladimir Doronin, including Leo DiCaprio, being brought into the fray.
According to documents in the bitter dispute between Russian mogul Doronin and Amanresorts chairman Omar Amanat, Doronin is accused of breaching his contract with the hotel chain by allegedly setting up a photo shoot paid for by the company for his model girlfriend Luo Zilin — who famously started dating Doronin after she was a protégée of his ex Naomi Campbell on her show “The Face” — and donating a resort stay to the recent starry DiCaprio charity auction without board approval.
Amanat and Doronin partnered to buy Amanresorts this year for $358 million, but fell out shortly afterward and embarked on legal battles in London and New York.
Amanat’s lawyers claimed in London documents that Doronin set up an expensive shoot with Zilin on Aman’s dime. “He wanted his girlfriend to be the face of Amanresorts,” sniffed a source. “He set up her shoot during China fashion week for $50,000, without board approval.”
The papers also claim the oligarch improperly used Aman funds to rent the “presidential suite” at the Raffles Hotel Singapore, which a source said was $12,500 per night, and that he separately donated three Aman vacations to a charity auction in St-Tropez for the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation without board clearance. DiCaprio is not involved in the dispute.
But a source close to Doronin strongly denies the accusations, saying the shoot was paid for by the Aman Sveti Stefan resort in Montenegro, which is run by a third party. “There was no cost borne by Aman,” the source said, adding the shoot was meant to pump publicity in China. The source added the DiCaprio donations were similarly paid for by the Venice, Amanzoe and Sveti Stefan location owners. Doronin cancelled the Singapore trip. The Doronin source added, “Vlad has the facts on his side, the rest is bull[bleep].”
Reps for both sides declined to comment.