Latest news with #Antigua-based
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Antigua's leader rejects allegations that his government withheld details of yacht sale and proceeds
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday dismissed allegations that his administration has not been transparent about the sale of a seized megayacht and how the proceeds were used. The statement by Prime Minister Gaston Browne comes a day after a federal judge in New York granted attorneys permission to issue subpoenas to access the financial records of Browne and other officials. The attorneys represent Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner of the Alfa Nero megayacht, which remained anchored off Antigua for a couple months before the local government seized and sold it last year. Guryeva-Motlokhov's attorneys alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne's administration has not released documents related to the $40 million sale of the yacht. The attorneys are seeking documents and information related to wire transfers and other transactions involving Antigua's prime minister and six other people, as well as 12 entities, in the past five years. The people targeted include Browne, one of his sons, his wife, Antigua's general accountant and its port manager. The entities include West Indies Oil Co. 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. The institutions that the attorneys plan to subpoena are required to comply with the request for information unless Browne or someone else files a motion opposing the subpoenas. Browne said in a public statement Tuesday that he is discussing legal remedies with his attorneys in Antigua and the U.S. He also told The Associated Press that his attorneys may challenge the judge's ruling. The case focuses on a megayacht abandoned by Guryeva-Motlokhov's father, Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertilizer company and worked in the Russian government. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in August 2022. Browne on Tuesday accused Guryeva-Motlokhov of falsely claiming that she was entitled to the yacht 'in order to claim for herself the sales proceeds and damages and rob the people of Antigua & Barbuda of these public benefits.' 'She and her attorneys have made scandalous, malicious and entirely false accusations in order to further her illicit ends,' Browne said in a statement. 'The principal targets of her defamatory comments have been myself, and members of my family. There is not a grain of truth to any of these attacks on my, or my family's integrity.' An attorney for Guryeva-Motlokhov did not immediately return a message for comment.
Associated Press
18-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Antigua's leader rejects allegations that his government withheld details of yacht sale and proceeds
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday dismissed allegations that his administration has not been transparent about the sale of a seized megayacht and how the proceeds were used. The statement by Prime Minister Gaston Browne comes a day after a federal judge in New York granted attorneys permission to issue subpoenas to access the financial records of Browne and other officials. The attorneys represent Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner of the Alfa Nero megayacht, which remained anchored off Antigua for a couple months before the local government seized and sold it last year. Guryeva-Motlokhov's attorneys alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne's administration has not released documents related to the $40 million sale of the yacht. The attorneys are seeking documents and information related to wire transfers and other transactions involving Antigua's prime minister and six other people, as well as 12 entities, in the past five years. The people targeted include Browne, one of his sons, his wife, Antigua's general accountant and its port manager. The entities include West Indies Oil Co. 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. The institutions that the attorneys plan to subpoena are required to comply with the request for information unless Browne or someone else files a motion opposing the subpoenas. Browne said in a public statement Tuesday that he is discussing legal remedies with his attorneys in Antigua and the U.S. He also told The Associated Press that his attorneys may challenge the judge's ruling. The case focuses on a megayacht abandoned by Guryeva-Motlokhov's father, Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertilizer company and worked in the Russian government. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in August 2022. Browne on Tuesday accused Guryeva-Motlokhov of falsely claiming that she was entitled to the yacht 'in order to claim for herself the sales proceeds and damages and rob the people of Antigua & Barbuda of these public benefits.' 'She and her attorneys have made scandalous, malicious and entirely false accusations in order to further her illicit ends,' Browne said in a statement. 'The principal targets of her defamatory comments have been myself, and members of my family. There is not a grain of truth to any of these attacks on my, or my family's integrity.'
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US federal judge allows attorneys to subpoena financial records in Antigua yacht case
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal judge in New York granted the attorneys of a Russian woman permission Monday to issue subpoenas to access the financial records of Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister and other officials involved in the sale of a megayacht that her father had abandoned. The attorneys must first notify Prime Minister Gaston Browne and others before serving subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S.-based Clearing House Payments Co. 'The financial records will speak for themselves,' said Martin De Luca, with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. He is one of the attorneys for Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner of the Alfa Nero megayacht, which remained anchored off Antigua for a couple months before the local government seized and sold it last year. Browne did not immediately respond to a message for comment regarding the judge's ruling. The attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne's administration has not released documents related to the $40 million sale of the yacht, once owned by Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertilizer company and worked in the Russian government. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in August 2022, and the megayacht was removed from the sanctions list in June 2023 so Antigua could liquidate it. Antigua's opposition leaders also have demanded details of how the proceeds from the yacht sale were spent. Browne has said that details related to the yacht sale are public. On Sunday, he sent The Associated Press several documents he said showed those details. 'This is irrefutable evidence that the claim that $10M is missing from the proceeds is a fabrication,' he wrote in a message, referring to claims made in the March 11 filing. However, key information was redacted in bank payment/transfer forms that made it difficult to confirm details of the loans and advances. Browne also accused Guryeva-Motlokhov of defamation. In July 2024, Browne's wife, Maria Browne, Antigua's Minister of Housing, told The Antigua Observer newspaper 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. Attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov are seeking documents and information related to wire transfers and other transactions involving the prime minister and six other people, as well as 12 entities, in the past five years. The people targeted include Browne, his wife, their son and Antigua's general accountant and its port manager. The entities include West Indies Oil Co. 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. The institutions that the attorneys plan to subpoena are required to comply with the request for information unless Browne or someone else files a motion opposing the subpoenas. Legal cases related to Alfa Nero also are ongoing in Russia and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.
Associated Press
17-03-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
US federal judge allows attorneys to subpoena financial records in Antigua yacht case
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A federal judge in New York granted the attorneys of a Russian woman permission Monday to issue subpoenas to access the financial records of Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister and other officials involved in the sale of a megayacht that her father had abandoned. The attorneys must first notify Prime Minister Gaston Browne and others before serving subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S.-based Clearing House Payments Co. 'The financial records will speak for themselves,' said Martin De Luca, with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. He is one of the attorneys for Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner of the Alfa Nero megayacht, which remained anchored off Antigua for a couple months before the local government seized and sold it last year. Browne did not immediately respond to a message for comment regarding the judge's ruling. The attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne's administration has not released documents related to the $40 million sale of the yacht, once owned by Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertilizer company and worked in the Russian government. He was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in August 2022, and the megayacht was removed from the sanctions list in June 2023 so Antigua could liquidate it. Antigua's opposition leaders also have demanded details of how the proceeds from the yacht sale were spent. Browne has said that details related to the yacht sale are public. On Sunday, he sent The Associated Press several documents he said showed those details. 'This is irrefutable evidence that the claim that $10M is missing from the proceeds is a fabrication,' he wrote in a message, referring to claims made in the March 11 filing. However, key information was redacted in bank payment/transfer forms that made it difficult to confirm details of the loans and advances. Browne also accused Guryeva-Motlokhov of defamation. In July 2024, Browne's wife, Maria Browne, Antigua's Minister of Housing, told The Antigua Observer newspaper 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. Attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov are seeking documents and information related to wire transfers and other transactions involving the prime minister and six other people, as well as 12 entities, in the past five years. The people targeted include Browne, his wife, their son and Antigua's general accountant and its port manager. The entities include West Indies Oil Co. 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. The institutions that the attorneys plan to subpoena are required to comply with the request for information unless Browne or someone else files a motion opposing the subpoenas.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. 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.' ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
