London: Former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt bought the Alfa Nero superyacht that was ditched in Antigua in March 2022 after Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
The billionaire “won the auction this morning in a fully transparent process”, buying the vessel for $US67.6 million ($98.4 million), according to Sir Ronald Sanders, Antigua’s ambassador to the US.
Eric Schmidt was in charge at Google for about a decade.Credit: AP
The 267-foot (81 metres) vessel, complete with a baby grand piano and a swimming pool that turns into a helipad, was abandoned in Antigua’s Falmouth Harbour after the US Treasury sanctioned Russian fertiliser billionaire Andrey Guryev.
The treasury department last year said Guryev bought the Alfa Nero in 2014 for $US120 million, which the Russian oligarch denies.
Schmidt’s foundation didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Alfa Nero was auctioned on Friday even after Guryev’s daughter filed a last-minute injunction claiming the yacht was hers, Antigua Port manager Darwin Telemaque said in an interview.
The Alfa Nero features a baby grand piano and a swimming pool that turns into a helipad.Credit: Orlovic/CC
Some of the proceeds will cover maintenance and other bills the Alfa Nero has piled up while in the harbour, with crew expenses alone running at $US112,000 a month. Telemaque said the sale price would cover “all liabilities”.
Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the US and its allies have imposed sanctions on many of the country’s wealthiest people, causing more than two dozen superyachts, worth about $US4 billion ($5.8 billion) to be frozen in ports around the world.