CNN's David McKenzie reports from London where the National Crime Agency has seized a yacht believed to be owned by an oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. #CNN #News
Superyacht believed to belong to mystery oligarch was just seized
Unfortunately for these people you can legally strip them of every dime & they would still be richer than 99% of the world through their hidden assets.
Well, technically no, because like you said, you would be stripping them for every dime they had. Considering that some of these oligarchs money is sometimes on a knife edge in terms of their investment choices, there’s a good chance that several legally wealthy people out there would actually be richer than them.
It’s a start, but I agree the investigations must go much further.
@Kev Tan There are ays to get around it, but not to the degree you’re implying. They have no access to at least 90% of their funds, their homes, their boats… it’s not as inconsequential as you’re making it seem. Their kids have been kicked out of western schools and apartments, etc.
Sells the yachts to pay for the brand spanking new cities, towns, malls, hospitals, etc that we need to build in Ukraine!!!
At LEAST.
Yeah I’ve seen this going around and rightly so. Much like the idea of housing refugees in these Russian oligarchs homes in cities all over the world that I’ve been barred. Many yachts around the world are worth 50 or more million pounds and could easily cover the costs of many new homes and building infrastructure around Ukraine. Let’s actually do something that’s about what is actually right and feels good for once rather than trying to stick to pointless bureaucracy that has been protecting these oligarchs all this time.
@My bad. We will have to wait and see.
Is there a Russian oligarch that doesn’t own a ridiculously expensive yacht?
Perhaps it is a necessity to join the club?
@BigBirdy100 it’s called an analogy. When you grow up , you’ll use them too ……..
@Justin Bourque When you grow up, you’ll have a better repertoire of analogies. 😉
@BigBirdy100 Wow ! I know are but ,,,what am I….. Comment………… Don’t prove my point or anything…………………
they wear those stupid costumes with the deer antlers. trying to be satanists
Not to join the club, but rather to compensate the lack of something else.
Yes, that something else.
Ships should be registered only in the countries of their owners! No Caribbean bs! They avoid taxes this way.
How are the small islands supposed to make money unless serving as tax havens for the ultra wealthy? Their expenses are relatively small but their means of generating taxes is practically non-existent. Colonialism didn’t exactly work out either so I don’t know…
@B P no doubt.
@Diego Haro I was speaking generally of the reasons of the act flags of convenience. There are various reasons like I said good and bad. I believe there are some registered in other places. As for the yacht crowd from Russia, their honesty is not sterling so hiding registry is their second nature even from fellow country men. They are not much different than the cartels. As to hiding assets and not paying taxes there are a whole line of them and still considered upstanding citizens in many countries. Tax havens in Switzerland, England, and many other countries some in the Middle East and China. Stop greed and it will go away or people will avoid at all cost. My bet it will always be here.
Sell it and give the money to the poor people of Ukraine who have lost everything
I agree with you they should sell it and help those Ukrainians
It’s a very slippery slope and rewards other ‘monsters’ of the world for not being Russian at this particular time. Yacht of that size is nothing but a burden to anyone who’s not a billionaire. I’m all for helping Ukrainians but this isn’t the best idea.
Sell it to who? Another billionaire.
@Brian T There is already international law that permits using frozen/sanctioned items for reparations
“The whole idea of patriotism and treason became irrelevant in his mind. Trump was using the campaign to make money for himself. It wasn’t a new concept. When a Russian oligarch bought Trump’s mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2008 for nearly double what Trump paid for it — a $50 million profit — Trump believed Putin was secretly funding the deal.” -Michael Cohen
@M/V Charisma
Six years later Hillary still lives rent-free in your head. Yet you talk to others about critical thinking ?
@David Cat it figures that a CNN viewer would only look at corruption based on their political beliefs, rather than having any real morals to call out corruption on both sides.
Crazy world we live in,ecosystems going extinct and we have these yachts,
20 people have enough money to save the planet but they’re afraid having less
@In tune It’s all one issue. That wealth is made possible in the US by the influence $ has on our electoral system. In Russia, the wealth comes from being chosen by their dictator. The influence of defense industry $ pushes US interventionism. Russian kleptocracy funds Putin’s imperialism. The outsized influence of the international fossil fuel industry plays a part in the aggression of both countries, too.
Very true unfortunately. Although would definitely take more than the 20 wealthiest people in the world, considering how long the efforts would also have to be sustained. I would like it though, if somebody would actually properly invest in large-scale eco-friendly yachts. We’ve already got the technology on a small scale we just need to be able to scale it up a bit. Just imagine how different that would be in conceptual designs.
Exactly 🌎💚
I see your point but the top 20 people do not even have close enough to ”save the planet” i
Here in America there are 2 two people who are wealthier than 130 million peasants…OILygarch$ livin’ large
Don’t pay their fair share
We Do
These people are still richer than almost all of humanity even without these yachts. When you’re a billionaire, 50 million USD is just lose change. The govt should sell these yachts to fund social programs for the city’s disadvantaged and to help alleviate poverty.
@Andrew Jenkinson Weird comment but these are weird times.
@Leah Ashley You Russian bots are busy
@meinardsl Your answer way too long, my answer is, take illegal profits from corrupt activities in Russia,send money to Ukraine. Simple. Your excessive verbiage indicates some ulterior motives.
The proceeds should go to Ukrainians
Wait a second. There’s a world super yacht award ceremony! Is it anything like the Oscar’s? …especially this year!
Lol! The Ukrainian rowing team is stuck in Turkey. They blocked a Russian yacht from docking, long enough to stage a protest. The difference in size of the boats was a great metaphor for this war.
If it belongs to Russian oligarch, maybe you could give tours to generate money for Ukrainian independence.
PS No oligarch wants commoners wandering around their yacht touching everything.
All these assets need to be seized, sold, and the proceeds go to rebuilding Ukraine.
Hahaha. You beat me to it. I just posted the same comment.
There is a super hot market for these mega yatchs at this time. Yo my knowledge the highest demand in history …so yes to your question
Agreed 100%!
Wow,this “cruise ship”for one person to get around in!, so yes,it is satisfying to see these rich people get their toys taken away from them, hopefully the yachts get donated to Ukraine..
Just imagine this yacht actually, if it wasn’t in fact sold, but was actually given to the Ukrainian forces, and then had massive guns strapped all over it. Now this would be the most luxurious naval vessel in the world. Take that Russia.😝😎👏🏼👏🏼
Another factor to remember about these massive, private behemoths: they use massive amounts of fuel, and make it increasingly difficult for smaller craft to get their fuel, or even find docking space, while marinas find them more lucrative. Ultra polluters in a world that needs to cut carbon emissions and pollution so that the earth can survive. And can we stop referring to Russia ultra rich as oligarchs? Or maybe refer to our ultra rich with the same name, so that people can more clearly who is sucking up to our leaders and reaping the benefits.
I like the idea of using oligarchs to describe the super wealthy. More descriptive since with wealth comes power.
This amount of wealth is obscene. The daily cost to maintain and staff these boats is in the $100’s of thousands. Just letting them sit without maintenance will degrade the value. No human should own this much wealth.
If you can’t look up the rightful owner, you immediately know it’s a shady move to avoid taxes. Immediate seizure. A ship of this size isn’t used by a company but by people.
Many companies own yachts they charter out year round.
Companies do use yachts of this size for cruises for a limited number of people, most ships are registered where the most cost effective registry is located. Multiple owners are common on such a large financial venture, common is investment purchases. You need a broader range in your education.. Not all multiple owners are illegal.
British government knows who is the owner of this Yacht, they decided not to reveal it to public.
Every super yacht who owner is suspicious should be required to present proof of ownership to enter ports. Otherwise, we are allowing criminals access to moving their crimes all over the world.
Be a shame if an “electric fire” burned it for the world to see.
The superyachts have NOT been SEIZED. They have been ARRESTED. Seized means taking over ownership. Arrested means prevented from being used – the Oligarchs still own them.
so what.
If they actually took ownership, then gave room and board to homeless people, that would really make the oligarchs cringe.
I have a 38′ foot boat and the amount of paperwork i had to fill out to identify myself as the owner is ridiculous. can’t imagine why we can’t figure out who owns this boat.
There was a time when having a yacht meant just that. A boat usually no longer than 60ft max and even those of that longer length might only belong to the richest people in the country. I remember a school mate showing me the half completed ferro cement yacht his father had spent 15 years building in his front yard. About the same length as your boat. I certainly don’t begrudge people who work hard on or for a really good asset like that. Having lived in Auckland I have seen superyachts even bigger than the one here. When there is evidence an Oligarch has siphoned funds out of his country or supported a dictator as part of a business deal, then the financial onus should be on that Oligarch to prove they’ve earnt the assets before that, & not stolen or laundered them subsequent . I doubt if many/any Russian Oligarchs could legitimately do that.
Simple, you clearly have a moral and do not want to bribe, or just do not have the money to do so. These super yacht owners have no moral and have the money.
I’ve got to say that is definitely one of most beautiful yachts I’ve ever seen, and I regularly check them out all the time and have plenty of favourites out there. There have been beautiful designs now with highly original features anaesthetics built over the past 20 years. Much like sports cars unfortunately, many of these designs have reached sometimes the limit in terms of their aesthetics, and it’s hard to tell, when you are looking at the very high end one, Whether it was built recently or over a decade ago. Many designs are either inevitably recycled as the same ideas will crop up in somebody else’s mind or simply a case that great minds think alike and more and more of them become more available as technology and manufacturing techniques become more common place to cater to the ever growing wealthy populous who wish to have yachts like this. In the end, if you really do want to have yourself a beautiful superyacht, it doesn’t actually have to be new. If you look carefully over the past two or more decades, you are usually guaranteed to find a really beautiful piece that has a feature that is unlikely to appear in many others any time soon. I am a little bit surprised that this yacht was only worth 40 million USD. I wouldn’t expect it to be worth a lot more than that.
Or buy an olde coaling canal barge.
Even if Russia is driven out of Ukraine, it is now obvious that the civilized world must do something different in the long term. The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Human nature is not going to change, so we need to change the conditions that empowers jerks.
Instead of complicated and inconsistent sanctions, it would be simpler for free countries to just to put massive taxes on all imports, and only give waivers to other free countries, and incremental discounts to non-free countries for democratic and human rights improvements. Cost of living increases can be offset by domestic tax reductions and stimulus payments from windfall tariff revenue. And most importantly; People love discounts, but hate mandates. We must work with nationalistic pride, not against it.
Also, we need to be consistent. Free trade with china, but no trade with North Korea is insane and does not offer a clear message.
Write your representative today and demand consistent, incentive based economic pressure. Waiting until the next destructive crisis is no longer an option.