US attorneys for a Russian woman seeking to recover a megayacht target Antigua
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Attorneys for the daughter of a U.S.-sanctioned Russian billionaire asked a U.S. federal court Tuesday for access to the financial records of officials including the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, whose administration is under scrutiny for seizing and selling the family's 265-foot (81-meter) megayacht and not releasing documents related to the sale.
The filing is the latest development in a global legal saga involving the Alfa Nero megayacht, which remained anchored off the eastern Caribbean island of Antigua for more than two years and whose potential buyers included former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
The megayacht, abandoned by Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertilizer company, is being sought by his daughter, Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner.
As part of the effort to recover the megayacht, her attorneys stated in the filing that they seek documents and information related to wire transfers and other transactions involving seven people and 12 entities in the past five years.
'The disappearance of millions from the sale of the Alfa Nero is just the beginning,' said Martin De Luca, with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, adding that the discovery seeks to uncover whether any alleged backroom deals for personal enrichment took place.
The people targeted include Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne, his wife, their son and Antigua's general accountant and its port manager.
The entities include West Indies Oil Company Ltd., an Antigua-based petroleum storage and distribution company of which the government is a majority shareholder, and 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.
A megayacht sanctioned, then auctioned
Alfa Nero was anchored off Antigua when the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.
The vessel was not sanctioned by the U.S. government at the time, but officials in Antigua prohibited the megayacht from departing for months, according to the filing.
In August 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Guryev, saying he was part of a group of 'Kremlin-connected elites' and 'a known close associate' of Russian President Vladimir Putin, having previously served in his government. The department also designated Guryev's superyacht as 'blocked property,' and said its location tracking was turned off 'to avoid seizure.'
'As innocent people suffer from Russia's illegal war of aggression, Putin's allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles,' said then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
In June 2023, the superyacht was removed from the sanctions list so Antigua could liquidate it. By then, the island's government had amended a local act to allow officials to declare vessels as abandoned and sell them at auction, a measure they took with Alfa Nero.
Schmidt, Google's former CEO, won the highest bid at $67 million but later dropped out, as did other bidders.
In July 2024, the government of Antigua and Barbuda sold it to an anonymous buyer for a reported $40 million, according to the filing, which noted that the vessel originally was valued at an estimated $120 million. It noted that private investigators later identified the buyers as Robert Yildirim and Ali Riza Yildirim of the Yildirim Group, a Turkish construction and shipping conglomerate.
The conglomerate did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
'No longer available'
Following the sale, Antigua's prime minister came under fire by opposition party members who demanded details of how the proceeds were spent. They have yet to receive any information.
'The prime minister does not give information except what he wants people to know,' said D. Gisele Isaac, chairperson of the opposition United Progressive Party. 'Up to now, he has never disclosed to us the name of the person who bought Alfa Nero.'
Isaac noted that while Antigua and Barbuda has a Freedom of Information Act, an information commissioner appointed last year has no physical office.
'There is nowhere to request information even if they were inclined to give it,' she said of the current administration, adding that she believes proceeds from the yacht sale should go to helping rebuild Ukraine.
Browne's wife, Maria Browne, Antigua's Minister of Housing, told The Antigua Observer newspaper in July 2024 that the proceeds were used to pay off government debt. Days before the report was published, the prime minister had said his administration was considering using the money to build a resort.
The filing noted that nearly $10 million remains unaccounted for and that investigators in the case were told the sale documents 'were no longer available because they had apparently gone missing.'
Gaston Browne did not immediately return a message for comment.
Legal cases related to Alfa Nero also are ongoing in Russia and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. One case alleges that the seizure and sale of the megayacht is unconstitutional, with Browne previously claiming that the lawsuit before the regional court filed by Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov was 'frivolous.'
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