• The intended sale of the MySky boat was reported in an advertisement emailed by a brokerage to unknown recipients.
• The U.S. Treasury has not responded to demands for comment. The MySky was listed as available for charter bookings on the Burgess website.
• The yacht was in the Maldives, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Experts question whether U.S. businesses or buyers could participate in the yacht sale without violating sanctions.

According to reports, a 168-foot (51-meter) superyacht was linked to Russian billionaire Igor Kesaev for 29.5 million euros (about $29 million).

The intended sale of the MySky boat was reported in an advertisement emailed by the brokerage business to unknown recipients on Sept. 14. Western governments and activists are concerned that billionaires like Kesaev have been able to skirt international restrictions targeting luxury assets like yachts.

In April, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU and UK sanctioned Kesaev for his participation in military weapons production and tobacco distribution in Russia, as well as his links to the Russian government “and its security forces.” The United States has not imposed sanctions against Kesaev, and the U.S. Treasury has not responded to demands for comment.

In a story about Kesaev’s daughter and her art gallery, the spring 2021 edition of a magazine published by Heesen – the Netherlands-based company that developed MySky – stated, “the Kesaev family is well known to Heesen, having commissioned Sky and MySky over the past decade.”

Heesen spokeswoman Sara Gioanola acknowledged that the Kesaev family commissioned the yachts. Following a request from Reuters, that edition of the magazine was removed down.

The international news agency was unable to determine independently whether Kesaev has direct ownership of the 2014-built MySky.

After the publication of this article, Burgess, a yacht brokerage with offices in London, Monaco, and other major markets, issued a statement stating that Kesaev “is not the beneficial owner of MySky” and that it “does not have any commercial relationship with him.” In its announcement, Burgess referred to itself as the “joint agent” for the sale.

The corporation said that it has “conducted exhaustive due diligence” that has been validated by outside attorneys. “The owner of MySky is not subject to sanctions.”

A spokesman for Burgess refused to disclose the brokerage’s role in the sale and stated she “can’t answer questions about the yacht.”

Monday, the spokesman also declined to address inquiries regarding the identity of the owner and their relationship to Kesaev.

A spokesperson for Kesaev declined to comment on the yacht’s ownership or impending sale and did not immediately reply to follow-up queries regarding the Burgess statement.

The advertising reviewed by Reuters was sent from the email address of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Merle Wood & Associates, which describes itself as “one of the world’s best yacht brokerage organizations.” It was distributed confidentially with a caution not to distribute it publicly. The receivers could not be identified by Reuters.

According to the pitch, the boat named MySky has “ultra-modern elegant interiors” designed by a renowned Dutch architect, an “internal climate-controlled gymnasium,” and a helipad.

Merle A. Wood, who is identified as the contact person on the MySky advertisement, told Reuters over the phone that he knew nothing about the yacht’s owner and referred any inquiries to Burgess, which he described as the key broker in the planned sale.

Clara Portela, an expert on sanctions from the University of Valencia, stated that since there are no U.S. penalties against Kesaev, American businesses or buyers might participate in the yacht sale without violating sanctions.

The MySky was listed as available for charter bookings on the Burgess website on Wednesday, per a review by Reuters. After Reuters enquired about it on Thursday, Burgess withdrew the MySky charter listing.

The yacht was in the Maldives, according to Merle Wood’s advertisement. In early March, days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Reuters captured the ship in waters outside the island nation in the Indian Ocean.

Yachts associated with sanctioned Russians have been spotted in the Maldives and Turkey in recent months, while the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions and attempted to seize such assets. Authorities in the Maldives were unresponsive to demands for comment.

A representative for the European Commission, which handles EU sanctions, stated that European leaders are urging foreign nations to align their policies with those of the EU, but that penalties only apply inside the EU’s jurisdiction.

A Treasury representative stated that the department does not comment on particular cases, but “takes enforcement action in every reported case of a suspected financial sanctions breach.”

Roland Papp, who monitors illegal financial flows for Transparency International EU, stated that it is highly improbable that authorities would ever learn about sales involving superyachts due to their frequently clandestine character.

“It’s very easy to try to avoid sanctions in this way,” he said.

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