Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, has formally withdrawn his bid for the ‘abandoned’ 82m Oceanco superyacht Alfa Nero due to ongoing legal complications.

Alfa Nero, which was ditched in Antigua after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been moored at Antigua Yacht Club Marina since February 2022, when it was blocked from leaving pending a search to confirm whether its ultimate owner appeared on sanction lists following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Several outlets, including Forbes, report that Alfa Nero is owned by sanctioned Russian businessman and Putin associate Andrey Guryev. Guryev, who made a $10bn fortune from the Russian fertiliser company PhosAgro, has denied this.

The Antigua government says the true owner has never been officially located, and is evidently keen to wash its hands of the vessel, which is said to be costing the authorities a hefty US$112,000 a month in maintenance fees and crew wages.

In June, Schmidt purchased Alfa Nero at auction for $67.6m — said to be around 50 per cent discount on the vessel’s value. (Delivered in 2007 by Oceanco, Alfa Nero was sold in 2011 to its current owner with an asking price of $115m.)

The deal between Schmidt and the Antiguan government was later challenged in court by the daughter of Guryev.

Schmidt has now withdrawn his offer, according to Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders.

Ongoing legal wrangling means Schmidt feels it is not possible to secure a clear title to the vessel. A clear title is important, as it can ensure no ownership claims emerge from other parties.

“Schmidt, because of the legal wrangling, determined that we could not give him the clear title of the ship,” Sanders said in an interview with Bloomberg. “That’s not accurate, because the ship belongs to us, it is owned by the government.”

In a further twist, American billionaire Warren Halle — who placed the second-highest bid and is the most likely to receive the yacht’s title after Schmidt — has also launched a lawsuit against the government of Antigua and Barbuda.

Halle alleges that he was not informed by Antigua that the yacht was under sanctions or considered blocked property when he was instructed to transfer $10m into a trust account by Prime Minister Gaston Brown after expressing an interest in purchasing it. Two months later, it is reported, he discovered the prime minister did not have the authority to sell the yacht, and the sale would instead go to an auction.

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