There could be rough seas ahead for the superyacht tech billionaire Eric Schmidt won at auction in Antigua last month for $67.6 million.
On Wednesday, lawyers for Yulia Gurieva-Motlokhov, daughter of Russian fertilizer billionaire Andrey Guryev, filed an appeal claiming she’s the true owner of the luxury vessel that the Caribbean nation says was abandoned in Falmouth Harbour in March 2022.
Gurieva-Motlokhov is the “sole adult discretionary beneficiary of the ‘Tyne Trust’ and ‘Flagstaff Trust’, which respectively own two companies which themselves own the Alfa Nero and the artwork aboard it,” according to documents filed in the Court of Appeal of Antigua and Barbuda.
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Last month, Antigua said Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, had won the vessel at a public auction after an earlier injunction by Gurieva-Motlokhov failed. Schmidt’s foundation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 267-foot Alfa Nero comes complete with a baby grand piano, a swimming pool that turns into a helipad and artwork by Spanish master Joan Miro. The US says Guryev bought the vessel in 2014 for $120 million — a claim he has denied.
When he was sanctioned in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US also blocked the sale of the luxury yacht. It was removed from the sanctions list earlier this year, clearing the way for the auction.
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Lawyers for Gurieva-Motlokhov said they were not able to respond to questions until next week. Antigua’s port manager, who oversaw the auction and is named in the appeal, said he couldn’t immediately comment.
--With assistance from Anna Jean Kaiser and Devon Pendleton.
