{"id":232800,"date":"2025-04-12T14:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-12T18:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=232800"},"modified":"2025-04-12T14:40:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-12T18:40:34","slug":"lawyers-for-pm-browne-and-others-file-documents-in-us-court-to-quash-subpoenas-in-alfa-nero-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/lawyers-for-pm-browne-and-others-file-documents-in-us-court-to-quash-subpoenas-in-alfa-nero-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers for PM Browne and others file documents in US Court to Quash Subpoenas in Alfa Nero Case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Antiguan Prime Minister Seeks to Quash US Court Subpoenas in High-Profile Yacht Case<\/strong><\/p>

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Antigua and Barbuda\u2019s Prime Minister Gaston Browne and several government officials have asked a US federal court to quash subpoenas seeking six years of their financial records, arguing that the request is an abuse of process driven by political motives rather than legitimate legal grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a memorandum of law filed Friday in the Southern District of New York, lawyers for the \u201cAntiguan Movants\u201d \u2014 including Prime Minister Browne, his family members, government agencies, and private Antiguan companies \u2014 argued that the subpoenas should be withdrawn and a prior court order authorising them vacated.<\/p>

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The subpoenas were issued at the request of Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, daughter of sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev. She is seeking financial records from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and The Clearing House Payments Company as part of a US discovery application under 28 U.S.C. \u00a71782, ostensibly for use in legal proceedings in Antigua and Russia.<\/p>

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However, in their court filing, the Antiguan officials argued that the discovery request is a \u201cbad faith\u201d attempt to defame Prime Minister Browne and damage the country\u2019s reputation, rather than a genuine effort to aid foreign litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis is not a good faith discovery request. It is a holdup, minus the mask and gun,\u201d the memorandum stated, citing social media posts from Guryeva-Motlokhov\u2019s legal team that accuse Browne of corruption and claim the application aims to expose a \u201cfinancial web\u201d involving foreign interests hostile to the United States.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The case centres on the 2024 sale of the superyacht Alfa Nero<\/em>, previously owned by Guryeva-Motlokhov\u2019s father and seized by the Antiguan government under legislation targeting abandoned vessels. The sale followed months of disrepair and the yacht\u2019s designation as blocked property under US sanctions following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>

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Antigua secured a licence from the US Treasury\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) before selling the vessel for US$40 million to a Turkish-linked firm. Guryeva-Motlokhov has since challenged the legality of the seizure and filed lawsuits in Antigua and Russia. A third action, reportedly contemplated in the United Arab Emirates, has yet to materialise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Antiguan Movants contend that the subpoenas are irrelevant to any of the ongoing cases and instead seek to obtain every wire transfer in which the Movants are mentioned since 2019 \u2014 years before the yacht\u2019s sale.<\/p>

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Their lawyers argued that:<\/p>

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