Former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt has officially withdrawn his interest in purchasing the Alfa Nero superyacht, according to Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders.
In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Sir Ronald said that Schmidt had determined that he could not acquire clear title of the 267-foot superyacht due to ongoing legal delays and so he chose to withdraw his bid as a result. A clear title ensures that no one else can claim ownership of the vessel.
The ambassador commented on Schmidt’s sentiment, expressing that it was inaccurate, as the vessel is “owned by the government”.
This announcement comes on the heels of Information Minister Melford Nicholas indicating in a Post Cabinet Press Briefing on September 1 that Schmidt’s interest in the vessel was likely to decline.
The Alfa Nero is set to go to the second highest bidder who had put forward a US$66 million bid in the June 16 auction of the vessel.
This bid, like the former Google CEO’s winning bid of US$67.6 million, exceeds the US$60 million minimum sale price the government had assigned after valuing the superyacht at US$115 million.
The third bid, however, significantly falls below the minimum sale price at a mere US$25 million.
Meanwhile, Damani Tabor, the Public Relations Officer of the United Progressive Party (UPP), has drawn attention to an oddity in the Alfa Nero situation.
“While the Attorney General is leading the government’s efforts to sell the boat, on the other side of the transaction, you have the attorney general’s son, Damien Benjamin, a lawyer, representing the buyer,” Tabor said, referring to legal action launched by the second highest bidder Warren Halle.
“In any reasonable government, or private sector company, you cannot have members of the same family on opposite sides of the transaction. So, the honourable thing for the Attorney General to do would’ve been to recuse himself from the proceedings,” he added.
On April 11 2023, after being abandoned for more than a year in the country’s waters, the Alfa Nero was acquired by government. Currently, the government pays US$28,000 each week to cover expenses related to the vessel, including fuel and crew members’ salaries.
Since the government’s acquisition of the superyacht, a number of legal challenges seeking to prevent the sale of the vessel, have been undertaken as Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov is said to be the vessel’s rightful owner.
Guryeva-Motlokhov who is the daughter of the sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev, is the sole beneficiary of a trust that owns the Alfa Nero via a 100 percent shareholding in the BVI-based firm, Flying Dutchman Limited.
