yacht 1 milione

Luxury & Performance: 5 Motor Yachts Under $1 Million Ready for Adventure on the Water.

Jun 23, 2023

Luxury yachts are every seafarer’s dream, but they don't have to remain a dream. With careful planning and research, you can find a luxury yacht that fits your lifestyle. Here are 5 luxury yachts under $1 million available right now:

1. D’PADRON - 2013 AZIMUT 58 FT FOR SALE (pictured above)

The D’PADRON is a sleek and stylish yacht that offers the ideal blend of luxury and comfort. This 58-foot Azimut boasts state-of-the-art amenities, including an open salon, a fully equipped galley, and three comfortable staterooms, and the flybridge offers a relaxing and spacious outdoor area that can seat up to 10 guests. The D’PADRON is priced at $849,000, making it an excellent choice for those looking for a high-quality yacht to begin their nautical adventures.

2. SATISFIED - 2008 SEA RAY 60 FT FOR SALE

SATISFIED is an elegantly designed and well-equipped 60-foot Sea Ray yacht with plush interiors and impressive performance capabilities. With its three luxurious staterooms, spacious salon, and well-equipped galley, this yacht is perfect for family getaways and weekend outings. Additionally, the vessel comes with a hydraulic swim platform, tender garage, and fully equipped flybridge, for the ultimate luxury yachting experience. You can purchase this stunning yacht now for $849,000.

3. COCONUTS - 2022 TIARA YACHTS 38 FT FOR SALE

With its innovative design and excellent performance, COCONUTS is a splendid 38-foot vessel from Tiara Yachts. The vessel offers a spacious layout, including a cozy salon, a fully equipped galley, and two comfortable staterooms. The outdoor experience is equally impressive, with a large cockpit and sun pad perfect for soaking up some rays. This stunning yacht can be yours for $765,000.

4. ANDI LYNN - 2019 INTREPID 40 FT FOR SALE

Last on our list is the ANDI LYNN, a 2019 Intrepid 40-foot center console yacht that offers both luxury and performance. This yacht has a modern, sporty look and comes equipped with a spacious cockpit, comfortable seating, a fully equipped galley, and a cozy salon. The vessel's performance capabilities are also remarkable, thanks to fast and reliable outboard engines. You can purchase this stunning yacht for $665,000.

5. JOURNEY - 2016 TIARA YACHTS 45 FT FOR SALE

JOURNEY is a 45-foot flybridge from Tiara Yachts that oozes luxury and elegance. Launched in 2016, this yacht is well-appointed with a spacious salon, fully equipped galley, and two comfortable staterooms. With ample indoor and outdoor seating options, the yacht's flybridge deck sports a wet bar, grill, and comfortable seating. You can purchase this sports yacht today for $735,000.

These yachts offer a range of options for individuals looking to enter the world of luxury yacht ownership. Each provides an exceptional experience by combining state-of-the-art amenities with the comfort of being on the water. Owning these high-quality yachts would be a dream come true for any nautical enthusiast.

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Used Yachts for Sale Between $1000000 and $1500000

If you're looking for a pre-owned yacht for sale between $1 million and $1.5 million, SI Yachts has the expertise to assist you in choosing the perfect boat for your requirements. Whether heading offshore to hunt for billfish or cruising the east coast, there are many options available on the yacht brokerage market. This is where the personalized customer service and knowledge our team proves valuable to you as the customer.

Boats for sale under $1.5 million dollars online include brands like Azimut Yachts , Bertram Yachts , Ferretti Yachts , Galeon Yachts , Hatteras Yachts , Prestige Yachts , Sea Ray , Sunseeker Yachts , Viking Yachts , and more! From New York, to Florida, and beyond, SI Yachts can assist you in the purchase or sale of a boat under $1.5 million. We look forward to earning your business! Contact us today at [email protected] or by calling one of our convenient locations . SI Yachts are also Licensed Florida Yacht Brokers.

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Used Yachts For Sale Between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000

52' SAY Carbon Yachts 52 2025

$ 2,000,000

Fort Lauderdale, United States

46' Riviera 46 Sports Motor Yacht 2023

$ 1,999,999

Fort lauderdale, United States

53' Scout 530 LXF 2020

Miami, United States

Price Reduction

73' Sunseeker Manhattan 73 2014

64' Galeon 640 FLY 2019

$ 1,999,995

Palm Beach, United States

New Arrival

50' Nor-Tech 500 Sport 2024

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63' Lagoon 620 2015

$ 1,999,944

64' Serenity Yachts 64 Electric Hybrid 2019

$ 1,999,900

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United Yacht Central

60' Viking 60 Convertible 2009

Boothbay Harbor, United States

72' Grand Banks 72 Aleutian 2006

Sarasota, United States

46' Valhalla Boatworks V-46 2024

Ft. Lauderdale, United States

46' Valhalla Boatworks V-46 2023

Description

Finding a used yachts for sale between $1,500,000 and $2,000,000 that fits your needs when it comes to number of passengers, horsepower, inside accommodations, and other features on board can be a challenge with so many options available on the market today. There are many types of boats available between $1.5m and $2m like  center-consoles ,  cruising yachts , motor yachts and  fishing boats , with many good options across all length ranges Still, there are plenty of opportunities with brands like  Sea Ray ,  Carver ,  Princess ,  Grand Banks ,  Meridian ,  Viking ,  Hatteras ,  Bertram , and others. Let the team at United Yacht Sales help you find the right vessel that fits your needs under $2 million.

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Majesty Yachts 100 For Sale

• By Jake Lamb
• September 27, 2024

Majesty Yachts says its Majesty 100 is “characterized by her unique enclosed sky lounge and powerful but efficient propulsion system.” The 108-foot motoryacht is an excellent option for owners looking to move into a crewed-yacht experience. Santosh is a 2020 Majesty 100 currently listed with Worth Avenue Yachts for $5.95 million. 

“ Santosh represents an amazing opportunity to purchase a very well-equipped, and very lightly used Gulf Craft Majesty 100,” says Worth Avenue Yachts .

The Majesty 100 has a semi-displacement design, an FRP hull and superstructure, and is fully compliant with RINA and SOLAS regulations, making it a secure and reliable choice for yachtsmen looking to do some bluewater cruising. Twin MAN V12-1900 diesels allow Santosh to jog at 20 knots and cruise at just over 15 knots. Slowing to a 12-knot cruise increases the 108-footer’s maximum range to 1,300 nautical miles while ABT-TRAC zero-speed stabilizers ensure stability at anchor and underway.

The salon features a powerful combination of natural light from nearly sole-to-ceiling windows and light colors throughout the custom interior. The interior formal dining space is past the credenza amidships that separates the lounge area aft from the dining table. Lounge seating includes three sofas in formation around a coffee table. The main deck galley is past the forward bulkhead to port.  

On the flybridge guests will find two entertainment sections. The bridge deck aft is open air with loose lounge furniture positioned on three sides. Forward, the section under the hardtop is enclosed, creating a comfortable skylounge area for guests to retreat to midday. Forward, a door on the centerline leads down to the pilothouse. 

Exterior entertainment continues on the two-tiered foredeck where guests can find a U-shaped dinette aft, a reclining sun pad forward with a forward-facing bench seat extension that’s accessible by stepping down the stairs flanking the sun pad. 

Heading aft out of the salon to the main deck aft, two sliding glass doors make the transition feel seamless. A transom bench seat and fixed dining table offer alfresco dining for everyone on board. Pull up a few chairs to fit as many as 10 people. 

Sleeping accommodations include a full-beam on deck master suite with a king berth and four guest cabins belowdecks that can sleep up to 10 people. The cabins belowdecks include two queen-berth staterooms splitting the centerline amidships and two twin-berth cabins forward. 

Some other notable features on board Santosh include: 

• Williams tender
• Two Sea Doo’s 
• Two Sea Bobs 
• Garmin open-array radar, GMR 606 & 604 xHD, 6 kW, 72nm
• Garmin AIS, 600 black box transceiver
• Garmin MFD main console GPSmap 8417
• Garmin GMI 20
• Garmin GSD24 sonar
• Airmar, Type: B164 SS164
• Garmin GHC 20 autopilot

Where is Santosh located? The yacht is currently lying in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  

Take the next step: contact the listing agent , Mark Osterhaven, 954-817-6992, [email protected]  

Quick Specifications

• Length Overall: 108’5”
• Maximum Beam: 22’8”
• Fuel Capacity: 4,000 gallons
• Draft: 5’6”
• More: 100'-124' , Brokerage , Majesty Yachts , Worth Avenue Yachts , Yachts for Sale
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Why the U.S. put a $1 million bounty on a Russian yacht’s alleged manager

On Sept. 3, 2020, the staff of a $90 million yacht placed an order with a U.S. company for a set of luxury bathrobes that came to $2,624.35.

For roughly two years before that, according to federal prosecutors, the yacht’s management had been falsely claiming it was working for a boat named “Fanta.” But the luxury bathrobes came embroidered with a monogram that, prosecutors said, revealed the yacht’s true identity: “Tango.”

That was a problem, officials say in court papers, because Tango was owned by a Russian billionaire under U.S. sanctions, and doing business on his behalf violated federal law.

Late last month, U.S. authorities unveiled a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and or conviction of the man they say was running the yacht staff and orchestrated the deception with the robes — Vladislav Osipov, 52, a Swiss-based businessman from Russia. In a new indictment , federal prosecutors say Osipov misled U.S. banks and companies into doing business with the Tango yacht despite the sanctions on the Russian owner, whom the Justice Department has identified as billionaire Viktor Vekselberg .

Osipov has denied the allegations. Osipov’s attorney has said that the government has failed to demonstrate that Vekselberg owned the yacht, and that its management was therefore not a sanctions violation.

The reward offer for Osipov reflects the latest stage in the evolution of the West’s broader financial war against Russia two years into the war in Ukraine, as the United States and its allies increasingly target intermediaries accused of enabling Russian oligarchs to circumvent sanctions.

Many Russians close to President Vladimir Putin have been under sanctions dating to 2014, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and sent proxy forces into that country’s eastern Donbas region. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Biden vowed to deal a “crushing blow” with a barrage of new sanctions on financial institutions, industries, business executives and others tied to the Kremlin. But roughly two years later, Russia’s economy has proved surprisingly resilient after the nation poured tens of billions of dollars into ramping up its military industry. Moscow has also worked around the sanctions, finding new third parties to supply it with critical military and industrial hardware, as well as countries beyond Europe to buy its oil.

Now, the West is trying to increase the reach of its sanctions by digging deeper into Russian supply chains. Late last month, the Treasury Department announced more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia , primarily on military and industrial suppliers. The Justice Department also announced charges against two U.S.-based “facilitators” of a Russian state banker who is under sanction, as well as the guilty plea of a dual national based in Atlanta who was accused of laundering $150 million through bank accounts and shell companies on behalf of Russian clients.

Prioritizing criminal charges against — and the arrests of — Western employees of Russia’s elites represents a new escalation of the U.S. financial war against Putin, experts say. One Moscow businessman, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said many influential Russians are concerned about the arrest of two associates of Andrey Kostin, the head of VTB, Russia’s second-biggest state bank. These associates, Vadim Wolfson and Gannon Bond, were charged with helping Kostin evade sanctions by maintaining a $12 million property in Aspen, Colo., for Kostin’s benefit while concealing his ownership. Kostin has said that the charges of sanctions evasion against him are “unfounded” and that he has not violated any laws . Bond has pleaded not guilty; Wolfson hasn’t made an initial court appearance yet.

Wolfson, also known as Vadim Belyaev, had been a Russian billionaire until the Russian government took over his bank in 2017. Bond, 49, is a U.S. citizen from Edgewater, N.J. For all Russians living abroad and working with people in Russia, the threat of criminal charges is a much more worrying prospect than the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department last month against hundreds of individuals and entities, the businessman said, in part because sanctions are far easier to dodge than criminal charges.

“What you have seen through today’s public announcements are our efforts at really targeting the facilitators who possess the requisite skill set, access, connections that allow the Russian war machine [and] the Russian elites to continually have access to Western services and Western goods,” David Lim, co-director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, which is tasked with enforcing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, told reporters last month.

Thad McBride, an international trade partner at the law firm Bass Berry & Sims, said the crackdown on intermediaries reflected the natural evolution of the U.S. sanctions campaign in response to Russian adjustments.

“It seems to me they have gone through a comprehensive list of the oligarchs, and you can debate whether or not it’s had a meaningful impact on the Russian war effort,” McBride said. “Because they’re getting smarter about who’s who, they’re finding other people who play meaningful roles in these transactions, even though they’re not showing up in the headlines.”

The charges against Osipov related to his alleged management of the Tango yacht illustrate the mounting potential consequences for people in Europe and the United States who attempt to do business with Russians targeted by Western allies, as well as the opaque structures allegedly employed by those seeking to evade sanctions.

With a net worth estimated by Forbes in 2021 at $9 billion, Vekselberg, 66, has long drawn scrutiny from the West — and sought to safeguard his wealth. He made his initial fortune in aluminum and oil in Russia’s privatization of the 1990s and then expanded into industrial and financial assets in Europe, the United States and Africa, with Putin’s blessing. In addition to the yacht, federal prosecutors say, Vekselberg acquired $75 million worth of properties, including apartments on New York’s Park Avenue and an estate in the Long Island town of Southampton.

Vekselberg, who declined to comment for this article, has not been criminally charged by the Justice Department. In a 2019 interview with the Financial Times, he denounced the sanctions as arbitrary and harmful for international business, saying he had been targeted just because he was Russian and rich and knows Putin.

In April 2018, the Treasury Department under the Trump administration sanctioned Vekselberg and six other Russian oligarchs as part of broader financial penalties over the Kremlin’s invasion of Crimea, support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Vekselberg was also targeted for his work for the Kremlin as chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, an attempt to create Russia’s version of the Silicon Valley — evidence that appeared to undermine the Russian businessman’s claims that he operated independently of the Kremlin.

But with Vekselberg’s payments monitored by U.S. banks, according to the federal indictment , Osipov used shell companies and intermediaries to avert the bite of sanctions. Vekselberg kept other major assets out of the reach of U.S. authorities by making use of the Treasury Department’s 50 percent ownership rule, which stipulates that it is illegal to transact with firms only if an owner under sanction controls more than 50 percent of the business.

For example, a month after Treasury imposed sanctions on Vekselberg in April 2018, his Renova Innovation Technologies sold its 48.5 percent stake in Swiss engineering giant Sulzer to Tiwel Holding AG, a group that is nevertheless still “beneficially owned” — meaning, owned in practice — by Vekselberg through Columbus Trust, a Cayman Islands trust, according to Sulzer’s corporate filing. Vekselberg’s longtime right-hand man at Renova, Alexei Moskov, replaced one of Vekselberg’s direct representatives on the board. Moskov told The Washington Post that he stepped down from all his executive positions at Renova Group in 2018 after U.S. sanctions were first imposed and from that moment ceased to be Vekselberg’s employee.

The attempts to circumvent the sanctions appear to have found some success in the U.S. legal system. Columbus Nova, a U.S.-based asset management fund controlling more than $100 million in assets in the U.S. financial and tech industry, is run by Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater. The firm battled for more than two years to lift a freeze on Columbus Nova’s assets, imposed by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control because of the sanctions on Vekselberg, and won, reaching a settlement agreement with the Treasury Department. After renaming itself Sparrow Capital LLC, Columbus Nova successfully argued that Intrater — not Vekselberg — owns the fund. Intrater argued that the company was 100 percent owned by U.S. citizens and that no individual or entity under sanction held any interest in it. Intrater said Columbus Nova had earned fees for managing investment funds owned by Renova. He said he had repeatedly told Treasury he would not distribute any funds to Vekselberg.

Now Osipov, the alleged manager of Vekselberg’s $90 million yacht, is attempting a similar argument as U.S. authorities seek his arrest on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violations of sanctions law.

The federal indictment states that the Tango was owned by a shell corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands that was in turn owned by several other companies. The Virgin Islands shell company, authorities say, was controlled by Osipov, who also served in senior roles for multiple companies controlled by Vekselberg. U.S. officials also say Vekselberg ultimately controlled the other companies that owned the Virgin Islands shell company.

According to the indictment, a Tango official instructed a boat management company in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to use a false name for the yacht — “Fanta” — to disguise its true identity from U.S. financial institutions and firms, which try to avoid doing business with an entity or person under sanction.

Working at Osipov’s direction, according to the indictment, employees for Tango bought more than $8,000 worth of goods for the yacht that were unwittingly but illegally processed by U.S. firms and U.S. financial institutions, including navigation software, leather basket magazine holders provided by a bespoke silversmith, and web and computing services. The management company running Tango, run by Osipov, also paid invoices worth more than $180,000 to a U.S. internet service provider, federal prosecutors say.

The Tango was seized by the FBI and Spanish authorities in the Mediterranean not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Osipov was first indicted last year. The owner of the Spanish yacht management company hired by Osipov, Richard Masters, 52, of Britain, was criminally charged last year by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal sanctions law. A request for comment sent to Masters’ firm was not returned.

But in recent court documents, Osipov’s attorney argues that the yacht was not more than 50 percent owned by Vekselberg, and that the government hasn’t demonstrated it was. Barry J. Pollack, an attorney at Harris, St. Laurent and Wechsler, also says the government never warned Osipov of its novel and “unconstitutional” application of federal sanctions law.

“The government points to no precedent that supports its extraordinary interpretation and cites no authority that allows the traditional rules of statutory construction to be turned on their head,” Pollack wrote in a defense filing. The filing adds: “[Osipov] is not a fugitive because he did not engage in any of the allegedly criminal conduct while in the United States, has never resided in the United States, did not flee from the United States, and has not concealed himself.”

Still, the State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has said it will provide up to $1 million for information leading to Osipov’s arrest, warning that he may visit Herrliberg, Switzerland; Majorca, Spain; or Moscow.

The case demonstrates the extent of the U.S. commitment to tighten the screws on those seen as aiding Russian elites, even if they themselves are not closely tied to the Kremlin.

“When DOJ levels legal action against an individual or entity, they have quite a bit of evidence, especially because the threshold to press charges for money-laundering and sanctions evasion is so high,” said Kim Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. “We’ve had quite a bit of experience targeting Russia directly, and what you’re starting to see is the U.S. go after the facilitators enabling sanctions evasion. That’s where the U.S. is focusing its efforts right now.”

Hot on the trail of 56 superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs and subject to seizure

• Published: Mar. 06, 2022, 2:04 p.m.

French authorities have seized the yacht Amore Vero linked to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, as part of EU sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The boat arrived in La Ciotat on Jan. 3 for repairs and was slated to stay until April 1 and was seized to prevent an attempted departure. (AP Photo/Bishr Eltoni) AP

• The Associated Press

The massive superyacht Dilbar stretches one-and-a-half football fields in length, about as long as a World War I dreadnought. It boasts two helipads, berths for more than 130 people and a 25-meter swimming pool long enough to accommodate another whole superyacht.

Dilbar was launched in 2016 at a reported cost of more than $648 million. Five years on, its purported owner, the Kremlin-aligned Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, was already dissatisfied and sent the vessel to a German shipyard last fall for a retrofit reportedly costing another couple hundred million dollars.

That’s where she lay in drydock on Thursday when the United States and European Union announced economic sanctions against Usmanov — a metals magnate and early investor in Facebook — over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin and in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.

“We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets,” President Joe Biden said during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, addressing the oligarchs. “We are coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

But actually seizing the behemoth boats could prove challenging. Russian billionaires have had decades to shield their money and assets in the West from governments that might try to tax or seize them.

Several media outlets reported Wednesday that German authorities had impounded Dilbar. But a spokeswoman for Hamburg state’s economy ministry told The Associated Press no such action had yet been taken because it had been unable to establish ownership of the yacht, which is named for Usmanov’s mother.

Dilbar is flagged in the Cayman Islands and registered to a holding company in Malta, two secretive banking havens where the global ultra-rich often park their wealth.

Still, in the industry that caters to the exclusive club of billionaires and centimillionaires that can afford to buy, crew and maintain superyachts, it is often an open secret who owns what.

Working with the U.K.-based yacht valuation firm VesselsValue, the AP compiled a list of 56 superyachts — generally defined as luxury vessels exceeding 79 feet in length — believed to be owned by a few dozen Kremlin-aligned oligarchs, seaborne assets with a combined market value estimated at more than $5.4 billion.

The AP then used two online services — VesselFinder and MarineTraffic — to plot the last known locations of the yachts as relayed by their onboard tracking beacons.

While many are still anchored at or near sun-splashed playgrounds in the Mediterranean and Caribbean, more than a dozen were underway to or had already arrived in remote ports in small nations such as the Maldives and Montenegro, potentially beyond the reach of Western sanctions. Three are moored in Dubai, where many wealthy Russians have vacation homes.

Another three had gone dark, their transponders last pinging just outside the Bosporus in Turkey — gateway to the Black Sea and the southern Russian ports of Sochi and Novorossiysk.

Graceful, a German-built Russian-flagged superyacht believed to belong to Putin, left a repair yard in Hamburg on Feb. 7, two weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is now moored in the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad, beyond the reach of Western sanctions imposed against him this past week.

Some Russian oligarchs appear to have not gotten the memo to move their superyachts, despite weeks of public warnings of Putin’s planned invasion.

French authorities seized the superyacht Amore Vero on Thursday in the Mediterranean resort town of La Ciotat. The boat is believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

The French Finance Ministry said in a statement that customs authorities boarded the 289-foot Amore Vero and discovered its crew was preparing for an urgent departure, even though planned repair work wasn’t finished. The $120 million boat is registered to a company that lists Sechin as its primary shareholder.

On Saturday, Italian financial police in the port of San Remo seized the 132-foot superyacht Lena, which is flagged in the British Virgin Islands. Authorities said the boat belongs to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Putin and among those sanctioned by the European Union. With an estimated net worth of $16.2 billion, Timchenko is the founder of the Volga Group, which specializes in investments in energy, transport and infrastructure assets.

The 213-foot Lady M was also seized by the Italians while moored in the Riviera port town of Imperia. In a tweet announcing the seizure on Friday, a spokesman for Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said the comparatively modest $27 million vessel was the property of sanctioned steel baron Alexei Mordashov, listed as Russia’s wealthiest man with a fortune of about $30 billion.

But Mordashov’s upsized yacht, the 464-foot Nord, was safely at anchor on Friday in the Seychelles, a tropical island chain in the Indian Ocean not under the jurisdiction of U.S. or EU sanctions. Among the world’s biggest superyachts, Nord has a market value of $500 million.

Since Friday, Italy has seized $156 million in luxury yachts and villas in some of its most picturesque destinations, including Sardinia, the Ligurian coast and Lake Como.

Most of the Russians on the annual Forbes list of billionaires have not yet been sanctioned by the United States and its allies, and their superyachts are still cruising the world’s oceans.

The evolution of oligarch yachts goes back to the tumultuous decade after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, as state oil and metals industries were sold off at rock-bottom prices, often to politically connected Russian businessmen and bankers who had provided loans to the new Russian state in exchange for the shares.

Russia’s nouveau riche began buying luxury yachts similar in size and expense to those owned by Silicon Valley billionaires, heads of state and royalty. It’s a key marker of status in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and size matters.

“No self-respecting Russian oligarch would be without a superyacht,” said William Browder, a U.S.-born and now London-based financier who worked in Moscow for years before becoming one of the Putin regime’s most vocal foreign critics. “It’s part of the rite of passage to being an oligarch. It’s just a prerequisite.”

As their fortunes ballooned, there was something of an arms race among the oligarchs, with the richest among them accumulating personal fleets of ever more lavish boats.

For example, Russian metals and petroleum magnate Roman Abramovich is believed to have bought or built at least seven of the world’s largest yachts, some of which he has since sold off to other oligarchs.

In 2010, Abramovich launched the Bermuda-flagged Eclipse, which at 533 feet was at the time the world’s longest superyacht. Features include a wood-burning firepit and swimming pool that transforms into a dance floor. Eclipse also boasts its own helicopter hangar and an undersea bay that reportedly holds a mini-sub.

Dennis Cauiser, a superyacht analyst with VesselsFinder, said oligarch boats often include secret security measures worthy of a Bond villain, including underwater escape hatches, bulletproof windows and armored panic rooms.

“Eclipse is equipped with all sorts of special features, including missile launchers and self-defense systems on board,” Cauiser said. “It has a secret submarine evacuation area and things like that.”

Eclipse was soon eclipsed by Azzam, purportedly owned by the emir of Abu Dhabi, which claimed the title of longest yacht when it was launched in 2013. Three years after that, Usmanov launched Dilbar, which replaced another slightly smaller yacht by the same name. The new Dilbar is the world’s largest yacht by volume.

Abramovich, whose fortune is estimated at $12.4 billion, fired back last year by launching Solaris. While not as long as Eclipse or as big as Dilbar, the $600 million Bermuda-flagged boat is possibly even more luxurious. Eight stories tall, Solaris features a sleek palisade of broad teak-covered decks suitable for hosting a horde of well-heeled partygoers.

But no boat is top dog for long. At least 20 superyachts are reported to be under construction in various Northern European shipyards, including a $500 million superyacht being built for the American billionaire Jeff Bezos.

“It’s about ego,” Cauiser said. “They all want to have the best, the longest, the most valuable, the newest, the most luxurious.”

But, he added, the escalating U.S. and EU sanctions on Putin-aligned oligarchs and Russian banks have sent a chill through the industry, with boatbuilders and staff worried they won’t be paid. It can cost upwards of $50 million a year to crew, fuel and maintain a superyacht.

The crash of the ruble and the tanking of Moscow stock market have depleted the fortunes of Russia’s elite, with several people dropping off the list of Forbes billionaires last week. Cauiser said he expects some oligarch superyachts will soon quietly be listed by brokers at fire-sale prices.

The 237-foot Stella Maris, which was seen by an AP journalist docked this past week in Nice, France, was believed to be owned by Rashid Sardarov, a Russian billionaire oil and gas magnate. After publication of an earlier version of this story, AP was contacted Sunday by yacht broker Joan Plana Palao, who said his company represents a U.S. citizen from California who purchased the Stella Maris last month. He declined to disclose the name of the buyer or the person from whom the boat had been purchased.

On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a new round of sanctions that included a press release touting Usmanov’s close ties to Putin and photos of Dilbar and the oligarch’s private jet, a custom-built 209-foot Airbus A340-300 passenger liner. Treasury said Usmanov’s aircraft is believed to have cost up to $500 million and is named Bourkhan, after his father.

Usmanov, whose fortune has recently shrunk to about $17 billion, criticized the sanctions.

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“I believe that such a decision is unfair and the reasons employed to justify the sanctions are a set of false and defamatory allegations damaging my honor, dignity and business reputation,” he said in a statement issued through the website of the International Fencing Federation, of which he has served as president since 2008.

Abramovich has not yet been sanctioned. Members of the British Parliament have criticized Prime Minister Boris Johnson for not going after Abramovich’s U.K.-based assets, which include the professional soccer club Chelsea. Under mounting pressure, the oligarch announced this past week he would sell the $2.5 billion team and give the net proceeds “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, location transponders showed Solaris moored in Barcelona, Spain, on Saturday. Eclipse set sail from St. Maarten late Thursday and is underway in the Caribbean Sea, destination undisclosed.

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Nissan's disgraced, fugitive former chairman has to give the company $32 million — and a yacht

Nissan just won the first round of its boat battle with disgraced former chairman and current indicted fugitive Carlos Ghosn . Basically, this fight was all about who owned the 121-foot pleasure cruiser Ghosn paid for with millions he is accused of illicitly taking from Nissan (NSANY) . Ghosn was ordered to give up the vessel to Nissan . On top of that, he, his wife, and a shell company they created to purchase the boat were ordered to pay $32 million in damages, according to the ruling by the British Virgin Islands High Court.

The Custom Line Navetta 37 built by Ferretti, an Italian boat maker, was christened “Shachou,” which is Japanese for “The Boss.” Carlos , that’s a little bit on the nose, isn’t it? It has seven bathrooms, five main cabins and four crew cabins. From Automotive News :

The yacht became a symbol of the alleged self-serving excesses at the crux of misconduct accusations against Ghosn, who was arrested in 2018 at the height of his power as chairman of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, then the world’s biggest automotive group. The boat also featured in the final of four criminal indictments brought against Ghosn by Japanese prosecutors. Ghosn has yet to stand trial in Japan on the criminal counts. After 140 days of lockup on two separate stints in a Tokyo jail, Ghosn jumped bail and fled Japan to his ancestral homeland of Lebanon. He continues to live there with an Interpol red notice seeking his arrest. The British Virgin Islands court contest covered an alleged flow of some $32 million from Nissan’s CEO Reserve Fund through a complex chain of intermediaries, including a regional subsidiary, Nissan Middle East, into various entities controlled by Ghosn or his family members. Some of the money was traced to Shogun Investments, a California company owned by Ghosn and his son, and to Beauty Yachts Pty Ltd., the company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands to buy the yacht and later owned by Ghosn’s wife, Carole, according to the court’s Aug. 9 decision. “It is in the Court’s respectful judgment clear as a matter of fact that the sums paid away from Nissan/NME [Nissan Middle East] were for purposes other than the proper purposes of Nissan or NME; and the payments to Mr. Ghosn, Beauty Yachts and Shogun were made in order to benefit Mr. Ghosn or his nominees,” High Court Judge Gerhard Wallbank wrote in the 56-page judgment.

The 70-year-old denied any wrongdoing to AutoNews and said he was “obviously appealing” the decision. Neither he nor his wife attended the trial or were represented there.

Here’s a little more background on this whole boat saga and Ghosn’s legal issues:

Ghosn was arrested in November 2018 in a sting after he landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport on a regular business trip. He says the charges of financial misconduct were concocted to block Nissan’s fuller integration with its longtime French partner Renault, a plan he was working on at the time. Nissan applauded the decision as confirming its claims that Ghosn misappropriated funds. “This is a part of Nissan’s efforts to recover damages suffered due to Carlos Ghosn’s misconduct, including the misappropriation of Nissan’s assets and etc. through legal proceedings including lawsuits in Japan and overseas,” the Japanese carmaker said in a statement. “Nissan will continue such efforts to make Carlos Ghosn accountable for his misconduct.”The British Virgin Islands case is one of several ongoing civil and criminal showdowns that continue to grab headlines as they grind through courts worldwide, nearly six years after Ghosn’s stunning arrest upended the Franco-Japanese alliance he spent two decades building.[...]French authorities issued an arrest warrant for Ghosn in 2022, alleging he diverted millions of euros from Renault for his personal gain through a scheme with an auto distributor in Oman. That charge mirrors a similar allegation made by Japanese prosecutors regarding Nissan.Ghosn is also fighting a ¥15.5 billion ($102.5 million) civil claim leveled by Nissan in a Yokohama court. And for his own part, Ghosn has filed suit against Nissan in a Lebanon court claiming $1 billion in damages and lost compensation.

Since December of 2019, Ghosn has been living in Lebanon after fleeing Japan in a dramatic dark-of-the-night escape while being hidden in an audio equipment case . Despite the fact he’s wanted in both Japan and France, he holds a Lebanese passport, and that country does not extradite its citizens.

A version of this article originally appeared on Jalopnik’s The Morning Shift .

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$300M super yacht spotted in San Diego Bay: Who does it belong to?

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A one-of-a-kind super yacht was seen steaming into the San Diego Bay Thursday morning, but who does it belong to?

The San Diego Web Cam livestream caught the moment on video around 9 a.m., showing a 387-foot-long yacht making its way to America’s Finest City.

According to Marine Traffic , a website that tracks ships and vessels as they travel across the globe, the vessel’s name is LAUNCHPAD and is listed as “pleasure craft.”

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After further investigation, it appears this specific super yacht was originally commissioned to Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin, who was listed on multiple sanctions lists . It eventually left the Dutch shipyard it resided in when the sale to its news owner — an American — was approved.

According to Yacht World, the LAUNCHPAD sold for around $300 million. It’s rumored to boast features like a tennis court, a helicopter deck, a private cinema, a gym and deck jacuzzi. The yacht is likely able to host up to 24 guests.

So who is enjoying this luxury super yacht along the coast of San Diego? Here’s a hint: he’s behind the vision of what many now know as the “Metaverse.”

The LAUNCHPAD belongs to none other than Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg — the richest man in all of California and the fourth richest person on the globe, according to Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List .

Why Zuckerberg has ported in San Diego remains unknown, though you may want to keep an eye for a chance to see the mogul in person.

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.

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Disney Wins Property Lawsuit, Resulting in Nearly $100 Million Settlement Impacting Public Schools

in Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World Resort has won a long-lasting lawsuit impacting Orange County public schools.

But before we jump into that, let’s see how The Walt Disney Company has dealt with lawsuits in the past.

Disney Is Not New to Lawsuits

Walt Disney World Resort, a beloved destination for millions, has encountered its fair share of legal challenges throughout history. The theme park has been the subject of numerous lawsuits, ranging from personal injury claims to labor disputes. While these legal issues can sometimes tarnish its reputation, Disney employs a robust legal framework to ensure professionalism and compliance with the law.

One of the most notable aspects of Disney’s approach to legal challenges is its emphasis on risk management . The company has a dedicated legal team that actively works to minimize potential liabilities. This team assesses attractions, entertainment, and operational procedures to identify potential risks before they escalate into legal disputes.

By fostering a culture of safety and compliance, Disney seeks to protect its guests and employees while mitigating the risk of litigation. When faced with lawsuits, Disney typically opts for a strategy emphasizing resolution and negotiation rather than aggressive litigation. The company recognizes that public perception is crucial to its brand image.

Therefore, resolving disputes amicably can often prevent negative media coverage and restore goodwill among its guests. Disney frequently engages in mediation or settlement negotiations, which allows both parties to reach an agreement without the prolonged scrutiny of a public trial. Moreover, Disney’s legal team ensures that all operations adhere to industry regulations and standards.

This includes regular audits and compliance checks across various departments. By staying informed about changes in laws and regulations, Disney can adapt its policies accordingly, ensuring that the company remains on the right side of the law. In addition to these measures, Disney also invests heavily in employee training .

Staff members are educated on legal protocols, safety procedures , and guest relations, which fosters a professional environment that prioritizes both guest safety and legal compliance. By instilling a sense of responsibility among employees, Disney enhances its operational professionalism and cultivates a culture where legal adherence is a shared value.

The House of Mouse Wins Major Lawsuit Against Orange County Public Schools

In summary, while Disney World has faced numerous lawsuits over the years, the company’s proactive measures—ranging from risk management and conflict resolution to stringent compliance and employee training—underscore its commitment to professionalism and legal adherence. This multifaceted approach protects the company’s reputation and reinforces its dedication to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for all guests.

Walt Disney World has recently celebrated a significant legal victory, winning a years-long lawsuit that could entitle the company to recover up to $80 million in tax refunds from the Orange County Public Schools. The lawsuit centered around overvaluing property taxes on Disney’s resorts and other properties, mainly the Yacht & Beach Club hotel and convention center. According to a report from the Orlando Sentinel , the ruling by Judge Thomas W. Turner declared that the previous assessments made by then-Orange County Property Appraiser Rick Singh were “unconstitutional and invalid.”

The controversy arose when Singh’s assessments attributed excessive value to Disney’s property by factoring in intangible assets like the value of the Disney brand, its managerial capabilities, and the workforce. As a result, the assessed value of the Yacht & Beach Club surged by 118% within a single year, prompting Disney to initiate annual lawsuits against the sitting property appraiser. This tradition has continued since 2015.

Although the latest ruling pertains explicitly to tax years 2015 and 2016, the underlying arguments regarding illegal value determination have informed subsequent lawsuits. In 2023 alone, Disney filed a dozen lawsuits against the Orange County Property Appraiser, challenging inflated assessed values across its theme parks and hotels. Following Singh’s departure in 2020, Amy Mercado took over but continued to use a methodology that Disney contends perpetuates overcharging. Despite Mercado’s defense that the earlier adjustments were justified due to years of artificially low assessments, Disney remains committed to contesting these valuations.

Currently, the exact amount of the potential refund is still being calculated. Still, Scott Randolph, the current Orange County Property Appraiser, estimates that Disney could recover approximately $2 million for the Yacht & Beach Club alone. If the ruling’s implications extend to Disney World’s properties, the total could escalate to $80 million or more, especially if it applies retroactively to prior years. Complications arise regarding which entities will be responsible for providing these refunds.

Most of the improperly collected funds have gone to the Orange County Public Schools. Florida law stipulates that commercial property tax assessments cannot increase by more than 10% annually unless the assessing authority is a school district. Thus, the schools could be liable for a substantial portion of the refunds. Randolph has been proactive in notifying school officials about the potential financial repercussions, and it’s reported that the school system has been setting aside funds in anticipation of a likely unfavorable outcome.

The improperly collected property taxes could be significant enough to construct three new elementary schools. The issue of Disney’s property taxes became a contentious topic, especially following Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s takeover of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District. DeSantis and Central Florida Tourism Oversight District members previously claimed that Disney was not contributing its fair share in taxes.

However, it’s essential to recognize that Disney met its tax obligations and was subjected to inflated assessments. In fiscal year 2022 alone, Disney reported paying $1.1 billion in state and local taxes, underscoring the complexity of the tax dispute and the ongoing impact of this legal battle on the theme park giant.

What are your thoughts on this most recent lawsuit win for the House of Mouse?  Sound off in the comments below, and let Inside The Magic know. 

Who is Mike Lynch? A look at the British tech tycoon missing from a sunken yacht in Sicily

He's been called the british version of microsoft co-founder bill gates or apple co-founder steve jobs, by michael liedtke | the associated press • published august 20, 2024 • updated on august 20, 2024 at 2:08 pm.

Tech tycoon Mike Lynch, one of six people missing from a sunken yacht off Sicily , had been trying to move past a Silicon Valley debacle that had tarnished his legacy as an icon of British ingenuity.

Lynch, 59, struck gold when he sold Autonomy, a software maker he founded in 1996, to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011. But the deal quickly turned into an albatross for him after he was accused of cooking the books to make the sale and fired by HP’s then-CEO Meg Whitman.

He was cleared of criminal charges in the U.S. in June, but still faced a potentially huge bill stemming from a civil case in London.

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A decade-long legal battle had resulted in his extradition from the U.K. to face criminal charges of engineering a massive fraud against HP, a company that helped shape Silicon Valley's zeitgeist after starting in a Palo Alto, California, garage in 1939.

Lynch steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, asserting that he was being made a scapegoat for HP's own bungling — a position he maintained while testifying before a jury during a 2 1/2 month trial in San Francisco earlier this year. U.S. Justice Department prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses in an attempt to prove allegations that Lynch engaged in accounting duplicity that bilked billions of dollars from HP.

The trial ended up vindicating Lynch and he pledged to return to the U.K. and explore new ways to innovate.

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Although he avoided a possible prison sentence, Lynch still faced the civil case in London that HP mostly won during 2022. Damages haven't been determined in that case, but HP is seeking $4 billion. Lynch made more than $800 million from the Autonomy sale.

Before becoming entangled with HP, Lynch was widely hailed as a visionary who inspired descriptions casting him as the British version of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Lynch, a Cambridge-educated mathematician, made his mark running Autonomy, which made a search engine that could pore through emails and other internal business documents to help companies find vital information more quickly. Autonomy's steady growth during its first decade resulted in Lynch being awarded one of the U.K's highest honors, the Office of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2006.

In the months leading up to the deal that would go awry, HP valued Autonomy at $46 billion, according to evidence presented at Lynch's trial.

The trial also presented contrasting portraits of Lynch. Prosecutors painted him as an iron-fisted boss obsessed with hitting revenue targets, even if it meant resorting to duplicity. But his lawyers cast him as entrepreneur with integrity and a prototypical tech nerd who enjoyed eating cold pizza late at night while pondering new ways to innovate.

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