Crew members that have been stranded onboard the abandoned superyacht, ALFA NERO in Antigua and Barbuda will receive more than a year in unpaid wages following an Antiguan High Court judgement.
Featured Image Credit: The Wall Street Journal
Nautilus International is a trade union and professional organization that was contacted by the yacht crew to help retrieve their wages owed. The Union arrested the yacht to recover the money for original crew members and those who continued onboard or were hired as part of the small crew placed onboard between March 2022 and April 2023.
Nautilus director of legal services, Charles Boyle commented, “This judgment is a massive win for us and the [ALFA NERO] crew, and it was the result of months of hard work. It is an outcome we are immensely proud of, and one we aim to replicate for those in need in the future. Although some crew may be slightly disappointed as they wanted to be successful on all aspects of the claims, securing payment for over a year’s worth of wages for our members is an amazing result. This is especially true given the context of the Russian sanctions, which has been a completely new legal territory for everyone.”
Delays to the wages have been compounded by the abandonment of the yacht by her alleged owner, fertilizer billionaire Andrey Guryev who left the yacht when Russia first invaded the Ukraine. After an initial auction took place and was sold, the sale was never finalized due to Guryev’s daughter claiming that she is the vessel’s true owner and that the seizure and sale was therefore illegal.
Crew will receive payment at the rates originally agreed upon in their contracts for the time period of March 17, 2022 – April 10, 2023.
