Seven-day window closes without payment for Alfa Nero, reportedly because of litigation before Privy Council today

To no one’s surprise, payment for the Alfa Nero has not yet been
received by the Browne Administration, reportedly due to the
litigation surrounding the controversial sale.

Tuesday, June 27, closed the seven-day window in which the new
owner of the superyacht, Eric Schmidt, had to pay the funds into the
Treasury. 

The Alfa Nero was sold on Friday, June 16, to Schmidt, a former
Google CEO and software engineer and a reported New York
resident. 

The vessel had been priced at US $60 million, and Schmidt’s bid of
US $67.6 million was the highest offer. The second-highest bid was
US$66 million. 

According to the Administration, if payment for the yacht was not
received with the seven-workdays deadline, then the second-highest
bidder would be in line to purchase the vessel. 

According to this week’s Cabinet Notes, Schmidt has shown a
willingness to dispatch the payment. However, the Executive says,
because a judicial decision is pending, the buyer has been advised by
his lawyers to “wait a day or two” until the court has decided.

Residents tell REAL News there is nothing surprising about the
Administration’s statement.

“Only a madman would drop US$67 million for a boat wrapped up in
lawsuits,” a retired civil servant declares – adding, “and I’m sure the
man not crazy.”

Another person asks, “So why couldn’t the Government just wait for
the court challenges to be settled before they sold the boat?”
Meanwhile, a banker says the Browne Administration is simply
using the sale as “a short-term loan,” intended to fill immediate
financial gaps.

“They know that, if they lose the case, they will have to compensate
the rightful owner,” he continues. “Not the sale price, but the value
of the asset. By then, the Government will have gotten over the
current hump, and it will be the taxpayers footing the bill, anyway,”
he says.

Reports say there are several personal and corporate challenges to
the Government’s ownership of the vessel and its artwork, one of
whom, allegedly, is a Russian woman who resides in London.

Accordingly, in an effort to halt the sale, applications for two
emergency injunctions were filed in the High Court and the Eastern
Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal. However, the applications
were refused and the auction was allowed to proceed.

According to reports, the matter was scheduled to be heard by the
Privy Council today, Thursday, June 29.

The decision of the final appellate court is expected to settle the
matter of ownership, one attorney says, but does not close the door
on further litigation for damages against the Government.

Following the auction, Port Authority Manager Darwin Telemaque
had said he recognized there would be challenges ahead; but the
Browne Administration would meet them and address them as they
arose, he added.

Telemaque also expressed his satisfaction that the vessel has a new
owner and that it will be removed from Falmouth Harbour – where
it has been moored since February 2022 – before any hurricane
strikes.