St. John’s—The daughter of a Russian billionaire, Andrey Guryev, has moved a US court seeking recovery of a megayacht that was allegedly seized and sold by officials of Antigua and Barbuda in July 2024, calling the move illegal.
In her plea moved before a US court through US attorneys, the Russian woman Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov has requested access to the financial records of officials, including the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, his family members, and other officials. The woman has alleged that under the administration of the incumbent Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, her family’s 265-foot mega yacht had been seized and sold in violation of the rules.
The woman has requested that the court make the documents related to the seizure and sale of the mega yacht available to her.
The Alfa Nero, the megayacht, which belongs to the family of the Russian women, had remained anchored off the Eastern Caribbean island of Antigua and Barbuda for more than 2 years, and it was sold to potential buyers, including the former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in June 2023, but he had later backed out of the deal.
As per the reports, the mega yacht, which belongs to the Russian businessman Andrey Guryev, has reportedly been abandoned by the businessman himself.
His daughter, Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, has claimed that she was the rightful owner of the mega yacht and it must be handed over to her. In her plea moved before the US court, the Russian woman, through her US attorneys, has sought information related to wire transfers and other monetary transactions involving at least 7 people and 12 entities that have taken place over the last 5 years.
Martin De Luca, with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, stated that millions of dollars generated from the sale of the mega yacht cannot just disappear into thin air, and the plea moved before the US Court will uncover the alleged backroom deals through which several individuals have collected huge sums of money.
The persons against whom the information is being sought include the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne; his wife; their son; Antigua’s general accountant; and its port manager.
The entities that might have to reveal the details of their financial transactions over the last 5 years include the West Indies Oil Company Ltd., an Antigua-based petroleum storage and distribution company of which the government is a majority shareholder; Fancy Bridge Ltd., a Hong Kong-based investment firm that owns shares in the oil company, as does Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., known as PDVSA.
The mega yacht that is at the center of this international controversy had been anchored on the eastern coast of Antigua when the Russian-Ukraine war started in February 2022. In the latest plea moved before the US Court, the Russian woman said that the vessel had not been sanctioned by the US government at that time, but the officials in Antigua prohibited the mega yacht from departing for several months.
Guryev, owner of the mega yacht, was a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had also served in his government.
Alfa Nero was reportedly sold at an auction conducted by the government of Antigua and Barbuda in June 2023 after the US had removed it from the sanctions list. The government of Antigua and Barbuda, under a local act, had declared this vessel as abandoned and had put it up for auction. As per the latest plea by the Russian women, initially, the vessel had been bought by the former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt and some other buyers, for a sum of $67 million, but he later he decided not to go ahead with the buying.
The vessel was then sold to an anonymous buyer for a sum of $40 million in July 2024. The plea also stated that the vessel had initially been valued at $120 million.
Private investigations carried out by the family of Russian women stated that the vessel had been bought by a Turkish construction and shipping conglomerate.
This international controversy had also brewed up a political storm in Antigua and Barbuda, with the opposition leaders demanding a clarification from the Prime Minister on how proceeds from the sale of the mega yacht were spent.
Reportedly, the Prime Minister has to date not responded to the claims being made by the opposition party. The Chairperson of the United Progressive Party, the main opposition party in Antigua and Barbuda, has claimed that till now, the Prime Minister has not revealed the names of the persons who had bought the mega vessel.
She said that even the information commissioner appointed under the Freedom of Information Act of Antigua and Barbuda has not been able to furnish any details about the sale of this mega yacht.
While on one occasion the Prime Minister claimed that the money generated from the sale of the vessel was being used to build a resort, his wife, Marie Browne, who is also Antigua’s Minister of Housing, had reportedly mentioned that the money received from the sale of this vessel was used to pay off government debts.
Other than the US, legal cases have also been filed in Russia and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court related to the sale of this vessel.
In one of the cases, the sale and seizure of this vessel has been alleged to be unconstitutional.
The Prime Minister has called the case filed in the regional court by Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov “frivolous.”
