Perhaps it’s not in the destiny of the superyacht Alfa Nero to bring happiness to its owner, or even an alleged one. The Court of Appeal in Antigua has ruled against Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov’s appeal; she is the daughter of sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev. The billionaire’s daughter had challenged the High Court decision by Justice Rene Williams, who refused her injunction application. She has been a primary reason why the Antiguan government hasn’t auctioned and sold the 267-foot boat in the past six months.
However, Dr. David Dorsett, representing Guryeva-Motlokhov, stated that the constitutional case against the government remains unaffected. ‘The Court of Appeal dismissed my client’s claim, but it held that she has a serious case regarding the constitutionality of the Port Authority Amendment Act 2023. It’s not a frivolous case, as the government has suggested,’ he said.
The former Google CEO bought the Oceanco superyacht Alfa Nero for $67.6 million at an auction held on June 16, 2023. The 68-year-old waited endlessly for legalities and court controversies to be resolved before backing out of the sale. He eventually bought the stunning Kismet superyacht within four days and never looked back. That was the closest the Alfa Nero came to a happy ending but it wasn’t meant to be. The same happened with the second highest bidder for the motoryacht Alfa Nero, American billionaire Warren Halle, who didn’t get his hands on the luxury vessel and even sued the government of Antigua.
The abandoned superyacht, moored in the tiny island nation since February 2022, didn’t return to its original and alleged owners, the Guryevs, making the case of Alfa Nero a morbid reality. According to Loop, Dorsett claimed the situation could have been avoided ‘had the government not ignored the approaches to it by the owner of the Alfa Nero prior to the auction.’ Antigua is paying $28,000 a week to maintain the Russian billionaire’s Alfa Nero superyacht and has failed to auction the pleasure craft due to ongoing legal troubles.
Antigua has already spent $2.7 million as the Alfa Nero remains owner-less for 2 years. Unfortunately for both Alfa Nero and Antigua, this issue is far from over and could take years to solve. Dorsett stated, ‘There is a hearing in December to determine whether certain evidence that the government has put forward in the defense of its case is proper. I suspect a substantive hearing on the High Court action is not going to be possible until maybe June of next year, and then, of course, you have to see how that decision goes. If there is an appeal, that may take another year, and if there is a further appeal to the Privy Council, that may be another year or eight months.’
Considering the current predicament, whether the government of Antigua wins or the alleged owner Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov does, the real loser here is the Oceanco motoryacht Alfa Nero, which will continue to languish in the coming months with only a skeleton crew for upkeep. The abandoned vessel, worth $120 million, is already showing signs of deterioration. Recently, the government had to fly in an engineer to repair the Alfa Nero superyacht, costing nearly $10,000 to save the yacht from an approaching hurricane.
Add another couple of years, and what will remain of the now elegant Alfa Nero? The superyacht is already burning $2,000 of diesel every day to run its air-conditioning, just so that mold and seawater do not ruin its opulent interiors and expensive paintings. From a financial and environmental standpoint, what purpose does maintaining this yacht serve? Is it worth the fight and finances for all parties involved?
