Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, a Russian oligarch’s daughter, has hired American lawyers to help recover her family’s megayacht, which was seized and sold by the government of Antigua and Barbuda, according to the Associated Press.

Newsweek has contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs for comment via email.

Why It Matters

The government of Antigua and Barbuda’s seizure of the megayacht is part of global discussions—sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022—about what to do with seized Russian assets, including Moscow’s frozen central bank funds, and whether countries should allocate funds to Ukraine to use for reconstruction.

What To Know

Guryeva-Motlokhov, the daughter of the sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, is trying to recover his 265-foot megayacht, which had remained anchored off Antigua and Barbuda for two years beginning in 2022.

On Tuesday, Guryeva-Motlokhov’s attorneys asked a U.S. federal court for access to the financial records of officials who had not previously released documents pertaining to the Eastern Caribbean island’s sale of the megayacht.

A known associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Guryev previously served in Moscow’s government and founded a fertilizer company, the U.S. Department of Treasury said in an August 2022 news release announcing sanctions on Guryev.

According to the release, Guryev bought the megayacht, which was known as the Alfa Nero and sailed under a Cayman Islands flag, in 2014 for $120 million.

In June 2023, the vessel was removed from the sanctions list so Antigua and Barbuda could liquidate it, the Associated Press reported. Government officials declared the megayacht abandoned and sold it at auction for $40 million.

The government of Antigua and Barbuda received several bids, including one from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and ultimately sold the Alfa Nero to an anonymous buyer.

According to Tuesday’s court filing, private investigators later identified the buyers as Robert Yildirim and Ali Riza Yildirim of the Yildirim Group, a Turkish construction and shipping conglomerate.

The sale of the megayacht has had significant political ramifications in Antigua and Barbuda. Prime Minister Gaston Browne has received heavy criticism from the opposition United Progressive Party regarding the lack of information on how the proceeds from the sale were spent.

Last summer, Browne said his administration was considering using the funds to build a resort. Maria Browne, the prime minister’s wife and the minister of housing, later told local news outlet The Daily Observer that the money had been put toward paying off the government’s debt. According to the court filing, about $10 million from the sale remain missing.

Guryeva-Motlokhov’s attorneys have filed for access to information related to transactions involving seven people and 12 entities during the past five years. The individuals include Browne, his wife, his son, Antigua and Barbuda’s general accountant and its port manager.

Entities the lawyers are looking into include the West Indies Oil Company Ltd., Fancy Bridge Ltd. and Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., known as PDVSA.

The Alfa Nero is not the only Russian yacht to be seized. Following the imposition of sanctions against Russian oligarchs close to Putin in 2022, various governments began seizing vessels, private jets and properties.

What People Are Saying

Regarding the sale of the megayacht, Martin De Luca, a litigator with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, told the Associated Press: “The disappearance of millions from the sale of the Alfa Nero is just the beginning.”

Janet L. Yellen, then the secretary of the Treasury Department, said in the 2022 news release announcing sanctions against Andrey Guryev: “As innocent people suffer from Russia’s illegal war of aggression, Putin’s allies have enriched themselves and funded opulent lifestyles. The Treasury Department will use every tool at our disposal to make sure that Russian elites and the Kremlin’s enablers are held accountable for their complicity in a war that has cost countless lives. Together with our allies, the United States will also continue to choke off revenue and equipment underpinning Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.”

Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian member of parliament, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on March 4: “The fastest and fairest way to get money for Donald Trump would be not to use Ukraine’s rare minerals but frozen russian assets.”

What Happens Next

Legal cases regarding the megayacht remain ongoing in both Russia and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.