Alfa Nero. Photo: Antigua Observer/File

In a recent Associated Press (AP) article dated March 17, 2025 and captioned “US federal judge allows attorneys to subpoena financial records in Antigua yacht case”, it was noted that Prime Minister Browne and other officials involved in the sale of megayacht Alfa Nero must first be notified by attorneys for the claimant Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov – the daughter of US-sanctioned Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev – before serving subpoenas on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the US-based Clearing House Payments Co.

Guryeva-Motlokhov, who has also challenged the sale of the vessel in Antigua, claims she is the rightful owner of the vessel, which was abandoned by her father in Falmouth Harbour and remained there for several months until the government acquired it and sold it last year for USD40 million.

The Browne administration is accused of not releasing documents related to the sale of the yacht which the opposition here has also demanded.

Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister Lionel Hurst, during an interview with Observer, said he saw an excerpt of the AP article only on Tuesday.

Hurst said that there is no doubt that there’s going to be a challenge on the issue of jurisdiction.

He opined that a court in the United States does not have the authority to exercise any power over an elected official in Antigua.

“I believe that that is the first issue that will have to be thrashed out, but even if jurisdiction is found, and they’re allowed to, you can challenge some of the requests that are made, because they have to be based on some fact.

“And I don’t know that they have any facts to support many of the claims that they’re making. They make a claim, for example, that the vessel was not sold for $40 million, but $50 million, and that $10 million were divided up among folks in Antigua. It is not true. It’s a travesty,” Hurst said.

“They made it up, and they’re peddling it because they don’t mind harming not only the government officials, but Antigua and Barbuda. They don’t mind harming us, so long as they think that there is some political gain to be made from it. And they want to sell the idea to the rest of the world that we are corrupt, and it is not so. It is not true.”

The chief of staff said that those who are behind this action will be made to pay as the officials identified in an earlier AP article, including the prime minister’s son and wife, will be filing lawsuits “against them for peddling this untruth”.

When asked who exactly the lawsuit will target, Hurst said he does not want to speculate because the lawyers haven’t yet filed anything.

Addressing the issue as to whether the prime minister has been formally made aware of the court ruling, Hurst noted that based on his knowledge, no papers have been served on any official in Antigua.

“The newspapers have been carrying stories, but that is not the same thing as service. If it has happened, it had to be maybe within the last 24 hours or less. But certainly, it didn’t occur on the weekend.

“And these stories began in last week’s newspapers, and still nothing served upon anybody in Antigua. But we know that we want to avoid a default judgment against us. And as a consequence, we’ll very likely defend any lawsuit that is brought against the members here,” Hurst concluded.

Attorneys for the Russian woman are seeking documents and information about wire transfers and other transactions involving the prime minister and six other people, in addition to 12 entities, for the past five years.

According to the AP article, “The institutions that the attorneys plan to subpoena are required to comply with the request for information unless Browne or someone else files a motion opposing the subpoenas.”

In addition to legal cases before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court there are also cases in Russia.

The 265-foot yacht, initially valued at $120 million, was sold to a Turkish conglomerate in July 2024.