ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC—The Antigua and Barbuda government says the cost of the legal defense in the United States court regarding the sale of the mega yacht Alpha Nero is US$136,000.
A statement issued following the weekly Cabinet meeting reiterated that the court action had been “triggered by operatives of the United Progressive Party.” Still, the main opposition party has maintained its innocence in the matter.
The mega yacht, 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.
The attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne’s administration had not released documents related to the US$40 million sale of the yacht.
The US Treasury Department sanctioned Guryev in August 2022, and the mega yacht was removed from the sanctions list in June 2023 so Antigua could liquidate it.
“A complete fabrication of claims by a Russian citizen, fed to that individual by the members of the opposition, has now cost the Antigua and Barbuda public a significant sum which may yet increase. This unpatriotic, costly behavior has also damaged the country’s reputation and unjustly sullied the character of the country’s leader,” the Cabinet statement said.
Last month, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, in a statement posted on his Facebook page, said the “financial records will speak for themselves” as a federal judge in New York permitted the attorneys of a Russian woman to issue subpoenas to access his financial records and other officials involved in the sale of a megayacht that her father had abandoned.
“Not a red cent was diverted or unaccounted for. We have laid bare the records with all supporting wire transfers, redacting confidential account numbers,” Browne said.
“The documents confirm that the proceeds from the Alfa Nero’s sale—amounting to US$40 million—were allocated to cover expenses related to the yacht’s maintenance, services, and supplies and payments of the commission to the agency that facilitated the sale of the super yacht.”
In April, the Government additionally used approximately US$29 million of the proceeds to address critical fiscal obligations, including payments to domestic and external creditors such as the St Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Software One Inc., judgment debts, and land compensation awards.
“The Cabinet unequivocally states that neither the prime minister nor any member of his family or any public official benefited from the sale of the Alfa Nero superyacht,” it added.
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