WASHINGTON. US officials are looking into ownership of the $700 million superyacht currently in dry dock in the Italian coastal city and believe it may be linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to several people briefed on the information.
United States intelligence agencies have not made definitive conclusions about who owns the superyacht called the Scheherazade, but US officials said they found initial signs that it was linked to Mr. Putin. The information from US officials comes after The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Italian authorities were looking into ownership of the 459-foot vessel and that a former crew member said the vessel was intended to be used by Mr Putin.
People briefed on the intelligence did not describe what information they had indicating the superyacht was linked to Mr. Putin. If US officials find out if Putin uses the yacht and how often, people informed of this information will not share it.
US officials said Mr Putin left a small portion of his fortune in his name. Instead, he uses houses and boats nominally owned by Russian oligarchs. However, it is possible that, through various front companies, Mr. Putin may have had more direct control over Scheherazade.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Putin also spent a lot of time in the Russian Black Sea resort town of Sochi, according to US officials. Scheherazade made trips to Sochi in the summer of 2020 and 2021.
Both the Treasury Department of Intelligence and Analysis and the Naval Intelligence Directorate of the Navy are investigating ownership of superyachts linked to Russian oligarchs. A Navy spokesman and a Treasury spokesman declined to comment.
The Justice Department has set up a task force to check the assets of Russian oligarchs under sanctions. Speaking to reporters on Friday, a Justice Department spokesman said the task force would investigate individuals who help Russian officials or sanctioned oligarchs hide their assets. These individuals may be charged with sanctions violations or international money laundering charges.
In addition, under recently published changes to the Commerce Department’s rules, if more than 25 percent of an aircraft or yacht is made from US-made aviation or marine parts, it cannot enter Russia.
If the yacht is located in another country and meets the definition of US origin or US made product, it will require a license to visit Russia. To actually seize the yacht, the United States would need to coordinate with a cooperating foreign government—in the case of Scheherazade, Italy—to prevent the ship from moving into Russian waters.
Some superyachts left European waters as the invasion of Ukraine began and the West began imposing sanctions allowing asset seizures. The Scheherazade is under repair in Marina di Carrara, a port in Tuscany, and as of the beginning of this week was in dry dock and could not move.
Guy Bennett-Pearce, the captain of the Scheherazade, said earlier this week that Mr. Putin did not own the superyacht and that the Russian president did not set foot on it.
He declined to name the owner, saying only on Monday that no one was being sanctioned. Captain Bennett-Pierce did not return a call on Friday and did not respond to a text message.
Last week, Italian authorities boarded the Scheherazade and examined certification documents in a bid to learn more about the ship’s ownership. Captain Bennett-Pierce said earlier this week that he would provide Italian police with documents revealing information about the owner of the yacht.
Italian authorities have said they are carefully studying Scheherazade. In a process that could take a couple of weeks, Italy’s financial police will collect evidence and present it to a government committee, which will then decide if the ownership or use of the ship is linked to someone on the sanctions list.
Such a connection could be direct ownership of a significant portion of the ship, or proof that a friend, subordinate, or partner provided his or her name to disguise the ownership of the sanctioned person, or that the funds used to purchase the ship were derived from illegal profits. If the committee finds that the evidence meets the threshold, the financial police can confiscate Scheherazade.
The Italian maritime group, which owns the shipyard where the Scheherazade is in dry dock, said Thursday in a statement that based on the documents it has and “verifications carried out by the relevant authorities”, the Scheherazade “does not belong to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
US officials have stepped up their inspections of Russian oligarchs’ superyachts, especially as the United States and Europe have imposed new sanctions on wealthy families who support Mr. Putin.
The German-built Scheherazade has been in operation since June 2020. The SuperYachtFan website estimated its cost at $700 million. The ship has a full gym, two helipads and gilded bathrooms.
While Scheherazade was being followed by US intelligence officials, attention increased after the publication of a previous article in The Times.
Scheherazade appears to have a sister ship, the Crescent, built by the same German manufacturer and commissioned in 2018. During construction, the “Crescent” was called “Thunder”. Scheherazade had Lightning.
As with the Scheherazade, there is no publicly available information identifying the owner of the ship other than an offshore shell company. Crescent last broadcast its location on November 2, when it appeared to be approaching Barcelona, Spain. Satellite imagery shows it was moored at a nearby superyacht marina as of March 4. Both boats are registered in the Cayman Islands and both have the same designer.
Cathy Benner provided coverage from Washington DC, Christoph Kettle from New York and Gaia Pianigiani from Siena, Italy.