Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt paid $67 million for a superyacht abandoned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch

• Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt paid $67.6 million at auction for a 267-foot superyacht.
• The boat was left moored in Antigua Bay by Andrey Guryev, a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

Billionaire and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt won an auction Friday for the 267-foot Alfa Nero, paying $67.6 million for the superyacht that had been "abandoned" in Antigua Bay by a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

The Antigua and Barbuda Port Authority revealed the sale in a statement reported by outlets including Boat International.

Antigua's ambassador to the US, Sir Ronald Sanders, said the buyer was Schmidt, Bloomberg reported.

The yacht was linked to Andrey Guryev, who made his money in the fertilizer business and was sanctioned last year by the US Treasury Department following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Guryev is believed to have close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Guryev's daughter had tried to intervene to stop the auction, according to Bloomberg, by claiming she owned the yacht.

Her action came despite a legal representative for Guryev telling Bloomberg in March that he did not own the yacht.

"Mr Guryev neither owns nor controls the Alfa Nero and has simply used the vessel from time to time under commercial charter since 2014," his representative told the outlet.

Officials in Antigua were eager to sell the yacht, as upkeep and maintenance was costing more than $110,000 a month while it was docked in Falmouth Harbor.

Schmidt was the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, and stepped down as chairman of Google parent Alphabet in 2018.

Bloomberg ranks him at number 60 on its Billionaires Index, with a net worth of about $25 billion.

His new yacht has a pool that converts into a helipad, among other amenities.

Some of the proceeds will go towards paying the Alfa Nero's captain and crew, and suppliers, per Boat International.

Representatives for Schmidt didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.