If the seizure of superyachts were a soap opera, it’d be something infinitely more dramatic and long-lasting than the legendary Young and the Restless soap. Today’s episode is another follow-up to the controversy around Alfa Nero.
Alfa Nero is one of the most famous and beautiful vessels from Dutch luxury shipyard Oceanco. Delivered to the original owner in 2007 as a fully custom build, the 82-meter (269-foot) superyacht last changed hands in 2011 for a reported $115 million, some $5 million under its actual reported value. But when you’re a Russian billionaire, what’s a handful of millions between fellow billionaires?
Right now, Alfa Nero is the undesirable of the yachting world. Sailing into Antigua and Barbuda in May last year, it was frozen by authorities working with international agencies like the FBI, on the assumption that it belonged to sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev. The superyacht is not yet seized, but it will be in a matter of hours – if no one shows up to claim it.
Earlier this month, local authorities announced that the owner of the vessel had 10 days to lay a claim to it, or it would be sold off at auction, because it posed a “hazard to shipping and to the harbor where it is moored.” That’s a very vague way of saying that, while abandoned, Alfa Nero has been incurring huge fees, including for fuel, crew salary, and mooring taxes.
All of these fees have been covered from the local budget until now, but the government is drawing the line. To keep bills from piling up, local authorities gave the rightful owner 10 days to show up and cover the debt. Or they would do it for them, by force-selling the vessel.
Well, someone did show up to claim it, but it wasn’t Guryev. Earlier this week, a Russian businessman going by the name of Alexander Mavrodi publicly claimed that he was the direct beneficiary of the superyacht, saying that he had been in contact with the authorities to work out a solution. The real problem is that authorities are not buying the claim: they insist Guryev and his daughter are the direct beneficiaries and stress that this Mavrodi has failed to provide proof of ownership.
Stranger still, despite his statements to the local media, Mavrodi did not file the claim with the competent authority. So either the whole thing is a hoax or “a deliberate fabrication,” the government says in a statement. As for the goal of such a hoax, they don’t mention one.
Guryev doesn’t want the vessel either. In a surprising move for a Russian oligarch, he responded to one media outlet and flat-out denied ownership. It’s true that he’d been on Alfa Nero frequently since 2014, but it was only as a charter guest and never as owner, the sanctioned billionaire explains. Guryev adds that he did pass this along to the local government, but clearly without an effect.
What the latest twists in this saga mean is that whoever owns Alfa Nero has until today, Friday, March 31, to claim it – and provide evidence of it to convince authorities. If not, the state is going to sell it at auction and keep the money left after all the debts are settled.
It would be absurd to imagine that Alfa Nero could sell for its market value of $120 million, but it could still fetch half that. Antigua and Barbuda could be left with $55.5 million in the budget after paying off the debts.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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