Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced over the weekend that his eldest son, Gaston Browne III, has formally committed to full transparency and voluntary cooperation with ongoing U.S. legal discovery proceedings linked to the long-running dispute over the 200-foot luxury superyacht Alfa Nero. Browne confirmed that his son’s legal representation has already submitted formal correspondence to the U.S. legal team leading the evidence-gathering process, indicating no objections to turning over all requested records, including full access to his personal and relevant business bank transaction histories. “There is no information they are seeking that we will withhold,” the prime minister stated in public remarks Saturday, adding that Browne III has also agreed to travel to the United States at a mutually agreed scheduled date to comply with a requested sworn deposition. The legal chain of the dispute traces back to a September 7 ruling from a federal court in the Southern District of Florida, which formally authorized the issuance of subpoenas compelling document production from Browne III, alongside other named individuals and corporate entities connected to the 2024 $40 million public sale of the Alfa Nero, which Antigua’s government oversaw after seizing the vessel that was previously linked to a sanctioned Russian oligarch. The discovery request was filed by Yulia Guryeva-Motlokhov, who asserts a partial legal ownership stake in the superyacht and argues that Antigua’s seizure and subsequent public auction of the vessel violated established maritime and property law. Her petition to the Florida court seeks access to granular details of the 2024 sale process, including independent valuation reports, records of all negotiation discussions with potential bidders, and full documentation of how the $40 million in sale proceeds have been allocated to date. Officials emphasized explicitly that the allegations laid out in the pending discovery application do not represent formal judicial findings of any improper conduct by Prime Minister Browne or his son. The U.S. law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, alongside lead counsel Martin De Luca, have joined the Florida discovery effort, noting that the evidence they collect will be used to support their defense against a separate high-profile defamation lawsuit that Prime Minister Browne filed against them in Antigua’s domestic court system. This latest Florida procedural step comes after a separate, parallel discovery petition filed in a New York court was rejected back in August, where the presiding judge ruled that the legal team would need to file a standalone new civil case to pursue the evidence they sought for their defamation defense. The Florida federal court has set a mandatory deadline of November 9 for all involved parties to submit a joint status report updating the judge on the progress of the document collection and witness testimony process.
Prime Minister Browne says son will cooperate with discovery in Alfa Nero case
