A superyacht captain says wealthy Russians made employees take lie detector tests to prove they've kept information confidential, a report says

• A superyacht captain who worked for wealthy Russians has described his experiences.
• He told The Guardian employees had to take lie detector tests to uphold requirements about secrecy.

A superyacht captain who's spent 15 years at sea detailed his experience working for wealthy Russians.

The Guardian reported the account of the captain, who remains anonymous.

Per the outlet, the captain who has sailed ultra-rich individuals throughout the Caribbean and Mediterranean said superyacht owners are extremely secretive about their ships and what happens onboard.

One contract revealed to The Guardian showed that employees had to take a lie detector test to prove they were upholding the levels of secrecy required by their bosses.

Superyacht owners also required their employees to sign a non-disclosure agreement to even secure an interview for a job onboard, the captain told the outlet.

"They're operated in a super-secretive way so they can use them and deflect attention from the ownership," the captain said.

He added that superyacht employees must also sign contracts agreeing not to share business documents, photographs, and even drawings of the superyachts.

His experience chimes with that of another superyacht worker, who was recently interviewed. The designer told The FT that his job required lots of secrecy and he was unable to take any photos of his handiwork.

Superyachts and their owners have been scrutinized since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. The war prompted a string of Western-imposed sanctions on Russia in retaliation for their actions. Many measures have targeted wealthy Russians and their luxury assets.

With so many Russian oligarchs' yachts being impounded, some owners are sailing their ships around to avoid them being seized, or turning their ship's tracking signal off to avoid detection.

According to recent ship-tracking data, an $80 million superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Vagit Alekperov has spent seven weeks lingering off the coast of Montenegro to avoid being seized, as Insider's Kate Duffy reported.