US Appeals Court backs Antigua's PM Browne in Alfa Nero superyacht case
A US federal appeals court has ruled in favour of Prime Minister Gaston Browne, rejecting a Russian billionaire's daughter's bid for financial records tied to the Alfa Nero superyacht sale.
US Appeals Court rejects Russian heiress's bid for documents in Alfa Nero superyacht dispute
The United States Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne and several other Antiguan and Barbudan individuals and entities, jamaicaobserver.com reports. The decision dismissed a request for financial disclosure brought by Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, a Russian citizen who claimed ownership of the Alfa Nero superyacht sold by the Antigua and Barbuda government in 2024.
Guryeva-Motlokhov, the daughter of sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, had petitioned a federal appeals court panel to uphold her subpoenas in an effort to reclaim the 267-foot vessel previously owned by her father. Guryev, founder of fertiliser company PhosAgro — one of the world's largest producers of phosphate-based fertilisers — held ownership of the Alfa Nero until Antigua and Barbuda seized it following sanctions imposed on Russia after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The appeal was filed with the Second Circuit after a Manhattan federal judge denied access to unreleased financial records and official documents related to the megayacht's sale. Guryeva-Motlokhov had argued those documents were necessary to challenge what she described as a "sham" auction of the confiscated vessel.
In court filings, she claimed her investigators had "uncovered reports of wide-ranging corruption and illegal activity" within the Browne administration "well above and beyond the seizure and sale of the Alfa Nero."
The superyacht was removed from the sanctions list in June 2023, allowing Antigua and Barbuda to proceed with its liquidation.
Beyond Prime Minister Browne himself, the targets of the requested document production included his wife, their son, Antigua's general accountant and its port manager. The entities named were West Indies Oil Company Ltd — an Antigua-based petroleum storage and distribution company in which the government holds a majority stake — and Fancy Bridge Ltd, a Hong Kong-based investment firm that holds shares in the oil company, as does Venezuela's state oil giant Petróleos de Venezuela SA, known as PDVSA.
State-owned ABS Television and Radio reported that the US Appellate Court affirmed the District Court's earlier order, rejecting Guryeva-Motlokhov's application for discovery and quashing the subpoenas her attorneys had served on the Clearing House and the Federal Reserve in the United States.
Under the ruling, all documents already received by Guryeva-Motlokhov's legal team pursuant to the subpoena must be destroyed, with supporting evidence provided confirming that destruction has taken place.
According to ABS, attorneys representing Browne are now exploring the possibility of recovering at least a portion of the legal costs incurred during the appellate proceedings.
Source: Google News AG — Crime