Source: AP News
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.
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.
