ANTIGUA | The Alfa Nero Comes Home to Roost

Discovery Battle Docks in Antigua's Courts as PM Browne Faces Fresh Legal Scrutiny

WiredJa News Desk

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda, February 2, 2026 - The Alfa Nero saga has sailed full circle. After years of battling through American courts—from New York's Southern District to Florida—the legal war over the Russian oligarch's superyacht has reportedly made landfall in Antigua's own High Court.

Sources allege that legal filings seeking compelled disclosure of documents withheld from US proceedings will be heard on February 10, and that Attorney General Sir Steadroy Benjamin is working overtime to shield his boss, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, from the dock.

At the heart of this sprawling international dispute lies a simple but damning arithmetic: why did Antigua accept US$40 million for a vessel that had already attracted a US$67.6 million bid?

The $27 Million Question

The 82-metre Oceanco superyacht arrived in Falmouth Harbour in February 2022 and never left. Abandoned by its sanctioned Russian owner, fertiliser billionaire Andrey Guryev, the vessel became a US$28,000-per-week albatross around Antiguan taxpayers' necks.

In March 2023, Parliament rushed through the Port Authority (Amendment) Act—legislation critics say was tailored specifically to enable the seizure and sale.

When former Google CEO Eric Schmidt submitted the winning auction bid of US$67.6 million in June 2023, the saga appeared headed for resolution.

But Schmidt withdrew amid ownership disputes, and by July 2024, the yacht was quietly sold through broker Northrop & Johnson to an unnamed Turkish buyer for just US$40 million—a discount of more than US$27 million from the highest bid on record.

Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, daughter of the sanctioned oligarch who claims rightful ownership through family trusts, has pursued legal action across multiple jurisdictions. Her lawyers have been blunt in their allegations: the sale proceeds do not add up, and they want to know where the missing millions went.

The American Legal Gauntlet

The discovery battle has already wound through American courts with mixed results. In the Southern District of New York, Guryeva-Motlokhov's attorneys sought subpoenas targeting PM Browne, his wife Maria Browne (Minister of Housing), their son, and senior government officials including the port manager and general accountant.

Judge Jesse M. Furman quashed those subpoenas in June 2025—a ruling the Antiguan government trumpeted as vindication.

But the legal assault pivoted south. A January 2, 2026 filing in Florida's Southern District Court reported that documents related to the Northrop & Johnson brokerage had not been provided despite requests.

The filing described the yacht sale as "unjustly entangled in pervasive corruption and self-dealing within the government of Antigua and Barbuda, particularly within the office of Prime Minister Gaston Browne."

Coming Home: The Antiguan Front Opens

Now, sources allege, the fight has arrived in Antigua's own courts—a development that reportedly has the Attorney General scrambling. Sir Steadroy Benjamin finds himself in an awkward position: as the government's chief legal advisor, he shepherded through the very legislation that enabled the seizure. Now he may have to defend its consequences.

Adding intrigue to an already murky affair are persistent rumours about artwork allegedly removed from the vessel. The Alfa Nero's interiors featured pop art and Art Deco pieces, including reportedly a Miró painting.

Sources claim these artworks—potentially worth more than the yacht itself—may have been removed and hidden in Antigua. No official accounting of the vessel's contents has been made public.

The Stakes

Prime Minister Browne has gone on the offensive, instructing lawyers to seek US$10 million in defamation damages from the American law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, whose attorney Martin De Luca has been the most vocal in alleging corruption. Browne maintains the government acted lawfully and in the public interest.

The timing could not be more consequential. Browne is the incoming chair of the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be hosted in Antigua. A protracted corruption scandal—particularly one that drags through local courts—would cast a long shadow over that prestigious platform.

For the Caribbean, the Alfa Nero affair poses uncomfortable questions about the intersection of sovereignty, transparency, and international capital. Small island states have long defended their right to manage their own affairs without external interference.

But when the management of those affairs raises questions that span multiple jurisdictions and implicate the highest offices, where does sovereign prerogative end and accountability begin?

The February 10 hearing may provide answers—or simply open new fronts in a legal war that shows no signs of ending. One thing is certain: the Alfa Nero, now gleaming and refitted for the charter market at US$812,500 per week, has left behind a trail of questions that money alone cannot answer.

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