In the Caribbean, they decided to sell the yacht of a Russian billionaire who fell under the sanctions

$81 million superyacht to be auctioned off

The $81 million superyacht, believed to be owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch according to Western media, will be auctioned off by the government of the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda, which claims the vessel was abandoned in the Caribbean after the Ukraine conflict erupted last year.

The Antigua and Barbuda government on Monday warned superyacht owner Alfa Nero that they have 10 days to claim the vessel or it will be sold to the highest bidder.

The island nation’s information minister, Melford Nicholas, said the Alfa Nero yacht had been abandoned in Antigua’s Falmouth Harbor since February 2022 and the government was “trying to avert a future danger as the luxury vessel is not maintained by its owner.”

A statement from the Office of the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said: “Within 10 days, a notice will be published in newspapers and other media about the sale of the Alfa Nero vessel in order to satisfy the requirements of the forced sale law. If the owner does not lay claim to the vessel within this period of time, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda will sell it to the highest bidder.”

According to The Guardian, the owner of Alfa Nero, according to the US government, which imposed sanctions against him last year, is Russian Andrey Guryev. The US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it “identified Alfa Nero, a Cayman Islands-flagged yacht that A.G. Guryev reportedly bought for $120 million in 2014, as a blocked property of A.G. Guryev”.

The yacht, writes The Guardian, has a 12-meter infinity pool, jacuzzi, spa, beauty salon and helipad. At the same time, as The Guardian notes, Guryev denies that he is the owner of the vessel.

Guryev, who was sanctioned by the UK government in April 2022, is also allegedly the owner of London’s largest private residence, the 25-bedroom Highgate Mansion in Witanhurst, according to OFAC.

The property is officially owned by Boradge Ltd, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands, writes The Guardian. Guryev’s London lawyers said that “Mr Guryev does not own Witanhurst,” without providing further details. Guryev’s spokesman previously told The New Yorker that he was the beneficiary of a trust that owns the property, but not the legal owner.

Last year, Gibraltar auctioned the £65 million superyacht Axioma, owned by a sanctioned Russian billionaire, The Guardian notes.