Russian President Vladimir Putin may be the owner of a $700 million superyacht in dry dock in a port in Italy, The New York Times reported on Friday, citing "multiple people briefed on the information."
"United States intelligence agencies have made no final conclusions about the ownership of the superyacht — called the Scheherazade — but American officials said they had found initial indications that it was linked to Mr. Putin. The information from the U.S. officials came after The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Italian authorities were looking into the 459-foot long vessel’s ownership and that a former crew member said it was for the use of Mr. Putin," the newspaper reported.
There has been a great deal of interest in the efforts by western authorities to seize mega-yachts owned by Russian oligarchs, which are being investigated by the Treasury Department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence, and the Department of Justice.
"Italian authorities said they were taking a deep look at the Scheherazade. Under a process that may take as long as a couple of weeks, Italy’s financial police will gather evidence and present it to a government committee, which will then decide whether ownership or use of the ship is connected to someone on the sanctions list," the newspaper reported. "The German-built Scheherazade has been in service since June 2020. The website SuperYachtFan estimated that it cost $700 million. The ship has a full-size gym, two helicopter decks and gold-plated fixtures in the washrooms."
Watch the Scheherazade dock in Gibraltar:
140m Megayacht SCHEHERAZADE Project LIGHTNING - Inaugural call at Gibraltar (U.K)www.youtube.com
