March 18, 2025
Antigua PM remains confident about financial documents regarding sale of megayacht
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the “financial records will speak for themselves” as a federal judge in New York granted the attorneys of a Russian woman permission on Monday to issue subpoenas to access his financial records and other officials involved in the sale of a megayacht that her father had abandoned.
“Not a red cent was diverted or unaccounted for. We have laid bare the records with all of the supporting wire transfers, redacting confidential account numbers,” Browne said on a Facebook page on Tuesday.
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Browne described the action against him and the other local officials as “a spiteful vendetta, fuelled partially by wicked and hateful elements in the United Progressive Party (UPP)…using stale propaganda that have been fully ventilated and debunked”.
Browne said he is disappointed that the UPP would “have joined with foreign forces, with their destructive lies, disinformation and misinformation to destroy our country’s image abroad”, adding “their mantra is to rule or ruin”.
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In its statement, the Antigua and Barbuda government said it is aware of affidavits and evidentiary exhibits filed in the High Court of Justice by Ministry of Finance officials as proof of expenditure from the sale of the Alpa Nero.
“The documents confirm that the proceeds from the Alfa Nero’s sale—amounting to US$40 million—were allocated to cover expenses related to the yacht’s maintenance, services and supplies and payments of the commission to the agency that facilitated the sale of the super yacht.”
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It said additionally, approximately US$29 million of the proceeds were used to address critical fiscal obligations of the Government, including payments to domestic and external creditors such as the St Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Software One Inc and judgment debts and land compensation awards.
“The Cabinet unequivocally states that neither the prime minister nor any member of his family or any public official benefited from the sale of the Alfa Nero superyacht,” the statement said.
Last week, a statement issued following the weekly Cabinet meeting, said that it had acknowledged a lawsuit filed in a United States Federal Court in Puerto Rico regarding the purchase amount of the Alfa Nero yacht.
“The Cabinet strongly condemns this politically motivated attempt to malign the prime minister and his family. The lawsuit, along with the article, falsely implicates Prime Minister Gaston Browne, his wife, his son, the accountant general, and the port manager,” the statement said.
On his Facebook page, Prime Minister Browne wrote that “all of their nastiness will be in vain and they shall all disintegrate into nothingness and misery”.
“I shall continue to govern our country with integrity and unprecedented accountability,” he added.
The megayacht, abandoned by Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertiliser company, is being sought by his daughter, Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner.
On Monday, her attorneys were told that they must first notify Prime Minister Browne and others before serving subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the United States-based Clearing House Payments Co.
“The financial records will speak for themselves,” said Martin De Luca, with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
The attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne’s administration has not released documents related to the US$40 million sale of the yacht.
He was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in August 2022, and the megayacht was removed from the sanctions list in June 2023 so Antigua could liquidate it.
ST JOHN’S, Antigua (CMC) — Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the “financial records will speak for themselves” as a federal judge in New York granted the attorneys of a Russian woman permission on Monday to issue subpoenas to access his financial records and other officials involved in the sale of a megayacht that her father had abandoned.
“Not a red cent was diverted or unaccounted for. We have laid bare the records with all of the supporting wire transfers, redacting confidential account numbers,” Browne said on a Facebook page on Tuesday.
Browne described the action against him and the other local officials as “a spiteful vendetta, fuelled partially by wicked and hateful elements in the United Progressive Party (UPP)…using stale propaganda that have been fully ventilated and debunked”.
Browne said he is disappointed that the UPP would “have joined with foreign forces, with their destructive lies, disinformation and misinformation to destroy our country’s image abroad”, adding “their mantra is to rule or ruin”.
In its statement, the Antigua and Barbuda government said it is aware of affidavits and evidentiary exhibits filed in the High Court of Justice by Ministry of Finance officials as proof of expenditure from the sale of the Alpa Nero.
“The documents confirm that the proceeds from the Alfa Nero’s sale—amounting to US$40 million—were allocated to cover expenses related to the yacht’s maintenance, services and supplies and payments of the commission to the agency that facilitated the sale of the super yacht.”
It said additionally, approximately US$29 million of the proceeds were used to address critical fiscal obligations of the Government, including payments to domestic and external creditors such as the St Kitts-based Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Software One Inc and judgment debts and land compensation awards.
“The Cabinet unequivocally states that neither the prime minister nor any member of his family or any public official benefited from the sale of the Alfa Nero superyacht,” the statement said.
Last week, a statement issued following the weekly Cabinet meeting, said that it had acknowledged a lawsuit filed in a United States Federal Court in Puerto Rico regarding the purchase amount of the Alfa Nero yacht.
“The Cabinet strongly condemns this politically motivated attempt to malign the prime minister and his family. The lawsuit, along with the article, falsely implicates Prime Minister Gaston Browne, his wife, his son, the accountant general, and the port manager,” the statement said.
On his Facebook page, Prime Minister Browne wrote that “all of their nastiness will be in vain and they shall all disintegrate into nothingness and misery”.
“I shall continue to govern our country with integrity and unprecedented accountability,” he added.
The megayacht, abandoned by Andrey Guryev, a Russian businessman who founded a fertiliser company, is being sought by his daughter, Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who claims she is the rightful owner.
On Monday, her attorneys were told that they must first notify Prime Minister Browne and others before serving subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the United States-based Clearing House Payments Co.
“The financial records will speak for themselves,” said Martin De Luca, with Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
The attorneys for Guryeva-Motlokhov alleged in a March 11 filing in federal court that Browne’s administration has not released documents related to the US$40 million sale of the yacht.
He was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in August 2022, and the megayacht was removed from the sanctions list in June 2023 so Antigua could liquidate it.
