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NOT FOR CHARTER *

This Yacht is not for Charter*

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ILONA yacht NOT for charter*

82m  /  269' | amels | 2004 / 2019.

Owner & Guests

• Previous Yacht

Special Features:

• Elevator for convenient access
• Impressive 3,500nm range
• Comfortable Movie Theatre
• Swimming pool
• Lloyds Register ✠ 100A1 SSC Yacht (P) Mono G6 + LMC UMS classification

The award winning 82m/269' motor yacht 'Ilona' was built by Amels in the Netherlands at their Makkum shipyard. Her interior is styled by British designer design house RWD and she was completed in 2004. This luxury vessel's exterior design is the work of RWD and she was last refitted in 2019.

Guest Accommodation

Ilona has been designed to comfortably accommodate up to 18 guests in 6 suites. She is also capable of carrying up to 28 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Onboard Comfort & Entertainment

Her features include a movie theatre, beauty salon, elevator, underwater lights and air conditioning.

Range & Performance

Ilona is built with a steel hull and aluminium superstructure, with teak decks. Powered by twin diesel Caterpillar (3516 B HI-T) 2,633hp engines, she comfortably cruises at 15 knots, reaches a maximum speed of 16 knots with a range of up to 3,500 nautical miles from her 170,000 litre fuel tanks at 13 knots. She was built to Lloyds Register ✠ 100A1 SSC Yacht (P) Mono G6 + LMC UMS classification society rules, and is MCA Compliant.

*Charter Ilona Motor Yacht

Motor yacht Ilona is currently not believed to be available for private Charter. To view similar yachts for charter , or contact your Yacht Charter Broker for information about renting a luxury charter yacht.

Ilona Yacht Owner, Captain or marketing company

'Yacht Charter Fleet' is a free information service, if your yacht is available for charter please contact us with details and photos and we will update our records.

Ilona Photos

Ilona Awards & Nominations

• International Superyacht Society Awards 2005 Best Power 43m+ Winner
• The World Superyacht Awards 2013 Best Refitted Yacht Finalist

NOTE to U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Specification

M/Y Ilona

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Motor Yacht

Ilona is a custom motor yacht launched in 2004 by Amels in Makkum, Netherlands and most recently refitted in 2006.

AMELS are masters in the art of modern Dutch high-value yacht building. The yard is the largest superyacht facility in the Netherlands and one of the top superyacht builders in the world. In 2005 AMELS launched the successful LIMITED EDITIONS and delivered the first yacht of the series in 2007. The shipyard also specialises in the build of full-custom superyachts, with the in-construction Project Signature due to become the largest superyacht ever built in the Netherlands upon her scheduled launch in 2025.

Ilona measures 73.69 metres in length, with a max draft of 3.60 metres and a beam of 12.10 metres. She has a gross tonnage of 1,836 tonnes. She has a deck material of teak.

Ilona has a steel hull with an aluminium superstructure.

Ilona also features naval architecture by Amels.

Performance and Capabilities

Ilona has a top speed of 16.00 knots and a cruising speed of 15.00 knots. She is powered by a twin screw propulsion system.

She also has a range of 6,000 nautical miles.

Accommodation

Ilona accommodates up to 16 guests in 6 cabins. She also houses room for up to 28 crew members.

Other Specifications

Ilona is MCA compliant, her hull NB is 442.

Ilona is a LR class yacht. She flies the flag of the UK.

• Yacht Builder Amels View profile
• Naval Architect Amels View profile
• Exterior Designer RWD No profile available
• Interior Designer RWD No profile available

Yacht Specs

Other amels yachts, related news.

Timeless class

Designed by RWD, ILONA is a technical and aesthetic marvel. In her first 10 years at sea, this 74-metre covered almost 150,000 nautical miles, taking her to all corners of the globe. For her extensive refit by Amels Refit in 2012, the previous below-decks helipad hangar was replaced by a large swimming pool with movable floor, while a new helipad was created on the top deck aft. With plenty of accommodation and a 30-metre Owners Deck, ILONA is built for luxury as well as adventure.

Justin Redman

‘This was a wonderful, challenging project for us all. To be lucky enough to get a brief for something so different is a truly great joy. It’s also an added pleasure that the 73-metre ILONA was delivered to the owner on his 73rd birthday, as a sort of present to himself and his wife.’

Full Custom builds

ILONA yacht is an Amels Full Custom yacht, a one-off built to the Owner’s unique requirements. Learn about our custom-building heritage and our Full Custom builds.

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Major refit on 73.7m superyacht Ilona completed by Amels

Reported to be at the Amels yard last August for a major refit, the 73.7m motor yacht Ilona was recently spotted on the Côte d'Azur, showing her new face.

Ilona was launched by Amels in 2004 to a design by Redman Whiteley Dixon and turned many heads with her special helicopter garage in the aft deck. But after cruising her extensively around the world, her owner decided it was time to make some changes. 'The owner wanted to have a large swimming pool and a helipad large enough to take his Agusta 109 Grand New helicopter,' says David McQueen, the owner's representative.

The plan swung into action with pre-engineering and manufacturing works done in advance so that the refit could be completed in record time once the yacht arrived at the yard.

In place of the helicopter garage a large 10m by 3m swimming pool was created with a movable floor and a maximum depth of 1.5m. The 40,000 litres of sea water necessary to fill it are purified and 'can be heated to up to 6 degrees higher than the original sea temperature in just one hour,' adds McQueen.

The addition of the new helipad posed a real challenge to preserve the sleek original design of Redman Whiteley Dixon. As Justin Redman explains, 'Adding the additional superstructure to accommodate the helipad would have affected the lines of the yacht, so we extended the owner’s deck and the bridge deck by 2 metres in order to bring the aesthetic appearance back into balance. We also used metallic grey paint to reduce the visual impact of the helideck, and the overall result is that the yacht, despite all the changes, looks every bit as streamlined and well-proportioned as before.'

The 37th refit by the dedicated Amels Refit Department was a real success, as confirmed by Ilona 's captain, Kenan Seginer: 'I really like Amels , they’re very friendly and great to work with. They’ve done a wonderful job with Ilona , and the after-sales team is excellent. The boss is very happy, and any work we need doing in the future, for sure we’ll be coming back to Amels again.'

The refit was completed ahead of schedule on 16 May 2012, and the yacht arrived in Antibes few weeks later, ready in time for the coming season.

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Ilona Yacht

Motor Yacht Ilona

Ilona is a 73.69m motor yacht, custom built in 2004 by amels in makkum ( netherlands ). rwd is responsible for her beautiful exterior and interior design. she was last refitted in 2006..

Ilona yacht has a steel hull with a aluminium superstructure with a beam of 12.10m  (39'8"ft) and a 3.60m  (11'9"ft) draft .Ilona is built to comply to MCA and LR standards.

Performance + Capabilities

Ilona is capable of 16.00 knots flat out, with a cruising speed of 15.00 knots with range of 6000.00nm.

Ilona Accommodation

Ilona offers accommodation for up to 16 guests in 6 suites . She is also capable of carrying up to 28 crew onboard to ensure a relaxed luxury yacht experience.

Ilona is currently not available for Charter on Superyachts.com. Click here to view similar Yachts Available for Charter.

• More Details:
• Specifications

Builder: Amels

Exterior Designer: RWD

Naval Architect: Amels

Interior Designer: RWD

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By SuperyachtNews 03 May 2016

74m 'Ilona' back on the water after service

Icon yachts has announced that 74m 'ilona' is back on the water after a successful service at the dutch facility….

Icon Yachts has announced that 74m Ilona is back on the water after a successful service at the Dutch facility. Built by Amels in 2004, the 74m superyacht has now arrived in the Mediterranean after a fast Gibraltar crossing and is ready for charter.

The scope of work included an extensive overhaul of the four-fin Naiad stabiliser system, technical services and upgrades as well as the application of new antifouling after touching up the anticorrosive system. All was completed within a tight schedule of less than nine weeks.

Carel Meijers, the senior project manager at Icon Yachts said, “During the yard period, the cooperation with the crew was extraordinary. We had mutual understanding that the jobs that were to be performed should be finalised allowing time for testing and crew preparation prior to departure.”

According to Icon Yachts, refit activity in The Netherlands is increasing, this claim is supported by a successful first quarter of 2016 and new leads are filing up slots fast.

Illona , now 12 years old was the 28th superyacht delivered by Amels and is still the third largest superyacht in the Amels fleet. The Dutch shipyard has now delivered 55 superyachts since 1974 and ranked as the 9th most active shipyard in the 2016 Superyacht Intelligence Annual Report.

Icon yachts has also recently completed the refit of 52m superyacht Seahorse , also built by Amels in 1999.

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ICON Yachts

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ILONA Yacht – Luxury on Water $100M Superyacht

The ILONA YACHT is an 82 meter superyacht built by Amels in the Netherlands in 2003 with Redmand Whitely Dixon doing both the exterior and interior design of the yacht.

Ilona Yacht Interior

Inside the ILONA yacht, you’ll find five decks connected by an elevator for easy access throughout this elegant vessel.

With a beautiful mahogany interior designed by Redman Whiteley Dixon there is room for 20 guests in 6 spacious cabins and a stunning cinema that can hold 14 people.

With a crew of 28 in 14 cabins, guests will always feel at home with world-class service and never a shortage of things to do. What was once a helicopter hanger has been turned into a large swimming pool and a helipad was added.

Ilona Yacht Exterior

The exterior of ILONA yacht, also by Redman Whiteley Dixon, features a brilliant white hull, aluminum superstructure, and beige-brown wooden teak decks.

In 2016 she was sent back to Amels for a refit, where the swimming pool was added, among other features. She was refitted again in 2018 by Abeking & Rasmussen.

Redman Whiteley Dixon has a large portfolio, designing 21 yachts and 59 yacht exteriors throughout their career.

Specifications

The ILONA Yacht is powered by twin diesel Caterpillar Engines, reaching top speeds of 19 knots while her cruising speed sits at a comfortable 15 knots with a maximum range of 6000 nautical miles.

She has a length of 82 meters (269 ft), a beam of 21.1 meters, and a gross tonnage of 1836 tons.

She is in the top 5% of yachts by overall length, and one of only 60 yachts within the 80-90m range and faster compared to other yachts her size.

Currently sailing under the Cayman Islands flag, the ILONA yacht has recently been spotted around Italy and the Mediterranean.

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Yacht, IMO 1007964

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The current position of MY ILONA is at Adriatic Sea reported 3 mins ago by AIS. The vessel is en route to CR - LOKRUM , and expected to arrive there on Jun 14, 11:00 . The vessel MY ILONA (IMO 1007964, MMSI 319149800) is a Yacht built in 2003 (21 years old) and currently sailing under the flag of Cayman Islands .

Position & Voyage Data

Map position & weather, recent port calls, vessel particulars.

MY ILONA current position and history of port calls are received by AIS. Technical specifications, tonnages and management details are derived from VesselFinder database. The data is for informational purposes only and VesselFinder is not responsible for the accuracy and reliability of MY ILONA data.

A Brief History of Superyachts

And how they explain the world..

Tim Murphy January+February 2024 Issue

James Clapham

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When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the  January + February 2024  issue of our magazine, we investigate the rise of American Oligarchy—and what it means for the rest of us. You can read all the pieces  here .

The luxury yacht may be the world’s most exclusive form of transportation. But there are only a hundred-some that meet the definition of a gigayacht—a pleasure craft 295 feet or longer. Their opaque ownership records offer a glimpse of modern wealth and power: Over two dozen are linked to Gulf royals, businessmen, or states, and 20 to citizens (past or current) of the former Soviet Union. At least 23 have reportedly belonged to Americans, including founders of Microsoft, Netscape, Amazon, WhatsApp, and Snapchat. The widow of a German retailer who thrived under Hitler owned one; a UK tax exile and a Formula 1 dad still do. Yugoslav strongman Tito’s old yacht makes the list; Dominican dictator Trujillo’s does too. Take a cruise through the history of the vessels and their—somewhat—more modest sister ships.

1895: Nineteen years before World War I, the future King Edward VII of England punches his nephew, Kaiser Wilhelm II, in the face, after the German’s 121-foot yacht, Meteor II , defeats the royal Britannia in a race off the Isle of Wight.

1954: Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis ushers in an era of postwar one-upmanship with his 325-foot Christina O . It features a pool that converts into a dance floor, furniture made from whale foreskin, and pornographic carvings.

1963: During his final birthday party aboard the presidential yacht Sequoia , JFK chases future Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee’s wife, Antoinette, into the bathroom and gropes her. “I guess I was pretty surprised, but I was kind of flattered, and appalled, too,” she says later. The ship’s visitor logs are destroyed after Kennedy’s assassination.

1984: King Fahd of Saudi Arabia builds the record-breaking 482-foot Prince Abdulaziz .

1987: Sen. Gary Hart (D-Colo.) drops out of the presidential race just before photos emerge of him with model Donna Rice aboard the yacht Monkey Business .

1988: Donald Trump acquires Nabila , which previously belonged to the Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi and was featured in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again . He renames it Trump Princess , adds a disco, and changes the helipad’s “H” to a “T.”

1991: After one of Trump’s casinos files for bankruptcy, he sells Trump Princess to his bank—which flips it to a Saudi prince. A new yacht, the Trump Princess II , which he boasted would be “something in excess of 400 feet long, closer to 500 feet,” is never built.

British publisher Robert Maxwell’s body is found in the Atlantic Ocean, where he had been cruising on a 180-footer named for his daughter—the Lady Ghislaine . The vessel is eventually resold to Anna Murdoch, Rupert’s second wife.

1994: At a cocktail party on the oligarch Petr Aven’s yacht in the Caribbean, Boris Berezovsky meets Roman Abramovich, calling him a “nice boy who wanted to discuss commercial projects.” He and Abramovich begin working together to acquire Sibneft, a Russian state oil company.

1997: Construction ends on The Limited and Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner’s ­316-foot Limitless . The project was overseen by his good friend Jeffrey Epstein.

1999: Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison buys the 191-foot Izanami from a Japanese seller. He changes the name to Ronin , he said later , after “the local newspapers started pointing out that Izanami was ‘I’m a Nazi’ spelled backwards.”

2001: Months before Enron files for bankruptcy, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling asks a company executive for advice on finding a yacht broker. “This industry is known for crooks and thieves,” he warns Skilling.

2002: House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) promises to strip “corporate kingpins of their ill-gotten gains,” after scandals rock Enron and WorldCom. “We’re coming after the yacht.”

2003: DeLay charges donors $500,000 a pop for tickets to a yacht cruise.

2005: Ellison shoots down rumors he issued orders midconstruction to have his newest yacht, the 454-foot Rising Sun , extended to outdo Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s recently launched 414-foot Octopus .

Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-Calif.) pleads guilty to federal bribery charges after being caught living rent-free on a yacht, called the Duke-Stir , that was moored in Washington, DC, and owned by a defense contractor.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s 531-foot Dubai surpasses Prince Abdulaziz as the world’s longest yacht.

2006: Media mogul Barry Diller reveals the world’s longest sailing yacht, the 305-foot Eos , whose prow features a 9-foot-tall sculpture of his wife, Diane von Furstenberg.

2007: Diller opens a Manhattan corporate headquarters­­ at a Frank Gehry­–designed building that itself has been likened to a sailboat . It’s across the street from where Eos ties up.

2008: George Osborne, the No. 2 official in the UK’s Conservative Party, relaxes on Russian aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska’s yacht while vacationing with his family in Greece. He denies an accusation that he solicited funds, explaining in a statement that they discussed “Russian history” and drank tea.

2009: As his marriage falls apart, Tiger Woods retreats to a 155-foot yacht called Privacy .

2010: Abramovich’s new ship, Eclipse , surpasses Dubai as the world’s longest yacht. The 533-foot vessel features a submarine, anti-missile systems, and lasers to thwart paparazzi .

2011: During an unsuccessful suit seeking $5 billion he believed Abramovich owed him from the sale of Sibneft, an exiled Berezovsky claims that his former partner helped purchase the yacht Olympia for Vladimir Putin. When the BBC publishes a supporting account from another Russian businessman five years later, Abramovich’s lawyers dismiss the allegation as “a rehash of speculation and rumours.”

2012: As GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney faces criticism for holding investment funds in the Cayman Islands, his campaign invites donors to party on Cracker Bay . The ship, owned by the founder of The Villages retirement community, flies the Cayman Islands’ flag.

2013: UAE leader Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan launches the 593-foot Azzam , surpassing the Eclipse .

2014: The Wall Street Journal reports that Ellison has basketball hoops on “at least two of his yachts” and had someone follow in a smaller boat “to retrieve balls that go overboard.”

2016: Allen’s Tatoosh drags its anchor through a protected zone in the Cayman Islands, destroying 14,000 square feet of coral.

2017: After leaving office, Barack and Michelle Obama retreat to the South Pacific aboard David Geffen’s yacht, where they’re joined by Oprah, Tom Hanks, and Bruce Springsteen.

Abramovich’s business partner, Eugene Shvidler, blocks views of the Statue of Liberty while anchoring his 370-foot Le Grand Bleu in New York Harbor for a month.

Addressing the national Boy Scout Jamboree, Trump tells an anecdote widely assumed to allude to sex parties on a yacht belonging to the developer of the Levittown suburbs. “You’re Boy Scouts, so I’m not going to tell you what he did,” he said. “But you know life.”

Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) buys a yacht and on the same day votes to cut taxes on yachts.

2018: Rupert Murdoch is airlifted to UCLA after collapsing on a yacht trip with his fourth wife, Jerry Hall. “He kept almost dying,” a source tells Vanity Fair .

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott designates a billionaire donor’s marina as a special anti-­poverty opportunity zone.

Someone unties Seaquest , a superyacht belonging to Trump administration Secretary of Education (and billionaire) Betsy DeVos, causing it to crash into a dock on Lake Erie.

Businessman Jho Low, who financed The Wolf of Wall Street , is accused of taking part in a $4.5 billion scheme to siphon Malaysian state development funds and using some to purchase a $250 million yacht.

2019: Actress Lori Loughlin is arrested in a college admissions bribery scheme . Her daughter, USC student Olivia Jade, is vacationing in the Bahamas— on a yacht belonging to USC board of trustees chair Rick Caruso.

Following an investigation into corruption in the Nigerian oil industry, the US government auctions off businessman Kolawole Aluko’s Galactica Star , six years after Jay-Z rented out the vessel for Beyoncé’s 32nd birthday. A former Enron unit attempts to claim a portion of the proceeds.

Clarence Thomas visits an Indonesian preserve for Komodo dragons with billionaire Harlan Crow on the conservative megadonor’s Michaela Rose .

ArtNet reports that a $450 million (reputed) da Vinci that was supposed to be in an Abu Dhabi museum has been spotted hanging in Mohammed bin Salman’s personal yacht, Serene .

Kylie Jenner holds her 22nd birthday party on Low’s yacht, now under new ownership.

2020: “[I]solated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus,” Geffen writes on Instagram from Rising Sun , which he purchased in 2010. “I’m hoping everybody is staying safe.”

Steve Bannon is arrested off the coast of Connecticut by US Postal Police while aboard the fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui’s 150-foot Lady May .

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. dresses up as a character from the TV show Trailer Park Boys for a costume party aboard a NASCAR mogul’s yacht. He later posts a photo of himself to Instagram with his fly unzipped and his arms around his wife’s assistant.

2021: NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre testifies that he took refuge on Illusions , a Hollywood producer’s yacht, after the Newtown and Parkland mass shootings. “I remember getting there going, ‘Thank God I’m safe, nobody can get me here.’”

During a bitter divorce, the Daily Mail reports that Tatiana Akhmedova, wife of the Russian Azerbaijani billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, hired a team of British special forces veterans to seize his yacht, Luna , in an effort to enforce a Marshall Islands court ruling. They settle instead, and he keeps the boat.

Port Azure , dubbed the world’s first harbor designed exclusively for megayachts, opens in Gocek, Turkey. It bills itself as a place where “problems big and small go away.”

2022: Amid reports a historic bridge will be dismantled so Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ newly built Koru can leave Rotterdam’s shipyards, residents threaten to pelt the sailboat with eggs . The city changes plans.

A Ukrainian mechanic is arrested in Mallorca for attempting to sink a vessel owned by his boss, a Russian arms dealer.

Biden promises oligarchs he’s going to “take their ill-begotten gains” after the invasion of Ukraine. “We’re going to seize their yachts.”

Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder avoids a congressional subpoena on the team’s misogynistic culture while cruising the Mediterranean on his yacht, Lady S .

Missing Russian superyachts are spotted waiting out sanctions at Port Azure.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) criticizes Joe Biden for vacationing in Delaware while vacationing on a luxury yacht in Italy.

After sailing through Fiji on his yacht Aquarius , briefly retired Disney CEO Bob Iger tells friends he misses his wife and is bored with life.

New York Republican congressional candidate George Santos brokers a $19 million deal to sell a superyacht called Namaste to a Long Island car dealer.

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX reveals in court filings that founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund once spent $2.5 million on a yacht, which a top executive named Soak My Deck .

2023: Bezos takes possession of Koru . The $500 million, 417-foot sailboat comes with a bust that resembles his fiancée Lauren Sánchez—and its own second, 246-foot “shadow” support yacht with crew quarters and a hangar for the helicopter she pilots.

After divorcing Jerry Hall, Rupert Murdoch vacations on the Christina O with Abramovich’s ex-mother-in-law.

As TV and movie writers and actors strike, the Wall Street Journal reports that Iger, now back at work, has been regaling visitors to his Burbank office about the new, longer yacht he’s building.

Measuring Contest

Iconic gigayachts through the years

1931: Sea Cloud , Marjorie Post: 359 ft.

1981: Atlantis II , Stavros Niarchos: 380 ft.

2003: Octopus , Paul Allen: 414 ft.

2005: Rising Sun , Larry Ellison: 454 ft.

2010: Eclipse , Roman Abramovich: 533 ft.

2013: Azzam , Sheikh Khalifa: 593 ft.

Illustrations by Anthony Calvert

The Few, The Loud

Some famous faces aboard gigayachts

Steven Spielberg reeled out his anchor off Cannes.

A part of Katy Perry got stuck exiting a dinghy on her way to Barry Diller’s yacht.

Mohammed bin Salman purchased his yacht, Serene , just hours after he saw it.

Jerry Jones made a draft pick aboard his Bravo Eugenia to deepen the Cowboys’ bench.

Mariah Carey was engaged to a gigayacht owner, before the fantasy ended.

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Heesen Just Launched a Sleek New 164-Foot Aluminum Superyacht

"alp" is now en route to the mediterranean., rachel cormack.

Digital Editor

Rachel Cormack's Most Recent Stories

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Another Heesen beauty has hit the seas.

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Penned by Cristiano Gatto Design , the “contemporary but comfortable” interior spans just over 4,000 square feet and houses five staterooms for 12 guests plus five cabins for nine crew. The lavish owner’s suite is located forward on the main deck. Heesen Interiors , the yard’s cabinet-making company in Winterswijk, personalized all the interior furniture to the client’s taste, naturally.

Designed for alfresco entertaining, ALP is also replete with generous outdoor spaces. The expansive sundeck, partially protected by a hardtop, features a whirlpool and sun pads aft, a seating area forward, a fully equipped bar, and a dining area. Another dining area lies on the wheelhouse deck aft terrace by the plush skylounge. Heading to the main deck, the sprawling aft area is adorned with raised sun pads and another bar. Below sits a full-height beach club that will “be the center of the entertainment,” according to Heesen.

Rachel Cormack is a digital editor at Robb Report. She cut her teeth writing for HuffPost, Concrete Playground, and several other online publications in Australia, before moving to New York at the…

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Illegal cannabis shop owners challenge adams’ crackdown on unlicensed nyc pot stores.

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A group of unlicensed New York City smoke shop owners claim the Adams administration’s crackdown on illegal cannabis sellers is unconstitutional, according to a new federal lawsuit.

The retailers argue that the city’s sweeping raids of illegal pot shops — which have left hundreds of stores across the five boroughs shuttered for the foreseeable future — are a violation of their due process rights, according to the Wednesday filing in Brooklyn federal court.

The class-action lawsuit is the latest legal hurdle that the city may have to face in a long-standing battle to shut down dubious dispensaries amid the state’s botched rollout of legal marijuana sales.

Since 2022, Adams has fought for a citywide cannabis crackdown — and was finally granted permission to take action with the state’s “Operation Padlock to Protect Plan,” pushed as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget proposal.

The plan includes a “Cannabis Emergency Rule” that enables the City Sheriff’s Office to conduct inspections of businesses selling weed without proper registration, licenses, or permits under the NY State Cannabis Law — and shutter them that same day.

“Legal Cannabis remains the right choice for our city, but to those who choose to break the law – we will shut you down,” Adams said in a May press release. 

So far, the operation launched last month has seized over $10.4 million in products and issued over $23 million in fines, officials say.

But the cannabis sellers bearing the brunt are being stripped of their constitutional rights, they claim. The lawsuit asserts that allowing the sheriff’s office to immediately close and seal businesses suspected of selling pot without a license violates owners’ due process rights. 

Though the shop owners are granted a hearing within five days of being ordered to close, the plaintiffs argue that the sheriff ultimately has the final say on if the shop will close permanently or not, according to the lawsuit.

“Shutting down place and ignoring the rights of ordinary people is not the way the system is supposed to work – it’s wrong,” said Lance Lazzaro, the Brooklyn attorney representing the plaintiffs.

“Allowing the sheriff to act as the judge and jury is not the way the system works and due process has been ignored,” he argued.

The suit also notes collateral damage that has been brought upon innocent business owners – citing a spa and bike shop that were effectively shut down when the NYPD padlocked the gate they shared with an illegal dispensary. 

Adams’ team continues to claim victory over their cleaning up of the city’s weed scene.

His Deputy Mayor of Communication Fabien Levy celebrated his achievements on the social media X, writing, “@NYCMayor’s “Operation Padlock to Protect” 🔐 has already: -Confiscated millions of dollars in illegal products 🌿 -Issued tens of millions of dollars in penalties 💰 -Sealed over 350 illegal cannabis and smoke shops.”

“The Adams administration has been clear that the purpose of ‘Operation Padlock to Protect’ is to close down illegal cannabis and smoke shops to protect New Yorkers and better support the legal market by allowing justice-impacted and other legal cannabis business owners to thrive,” said City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia when asked about the lawsuit. “With over 350 shops sealed thus far, we have made progress to protect our communities from dangerous, illegal products while helping to create a path to a thriving legal market.”

Legal weed sales for the year are expected to surpass the $200 million mark this month, according to the states Office of Cannabis Management. 

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A 459-Foot Mystery in a Tuscan Port: Is It a Russian’s Superyacht?

As European authorities go after the luxury assets of oligarchs close to Vladimir Putin, a superyacht cloaked in secrecy has come under investigation.

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By Michael Forsythe ,  Gaia Pianigiani and David D. Kirkpatrick

From Germany’s North Sea ports to the French Riviera, open season has been declared on superyachts. Across Europe, authorities are hunting down luxury vessels tied to Russian oligarchs in the effort to inflict pain on President Vladimir V. Putin’s allies.

In Marina di Carrara, a small Italian town on the Tuscan coast, one of the world’s biggest, newest and most expensive superyachts — called the Scheherazade — is under scrutiny by the Italian police. Almost as long as a U.S. guided-missile destroyer, it dominates the waterfront.

The yacht, estimated by the website SuperYachtFan to cost about $700 million, has two helicopter decks and is studded with satellite domes. Inside, photos supplied by a former crew member show, is a swimming pool with a retractable cover that converts to a dance floor. Then there’s the fully equipped gym and the gold-plated fixtures in the bathrooms.

In the rarefied world of the biggest superyachts ( only 14 that are at least 140 meters, or 459 feet long), the Scheherazade is alone in that no likely owner has been publicly identified. That has spurred speculation that it could be a Middle Eastern billionaire or a superconnected Russian — even Mr. Putin.

The ship’s captain, Guy Bennett-Pearce, a British national, denied that Mr. Putin owned or had ever been on the yacht. “I have never seen him. I have never met him,” he said. He added, in a phone interview from the yacht, that its owner was not on any sanctions list. He did not rule out that the person could be Russian, but declined to say more about the owner’s identity, citing a “watertight nondisclosure agreement.”

Captain Bennett-Pearce said that Italian investigators had come aboard on Friday and examined some of the ship’s certification documents. “They are looking hard. They are looking at every aspect,” he said. “This isn’t the local coppers coming down, these are men in dark suits.” A person familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it, confirmed that the Italian financial police had opened an inquiry.

On Monday night, Captain Bennett-Pearce said he had “no choice” but to hand over documents revealing the owner’s identity to the Italian authorities. He said he would do so on Tuesday and had been told they would be handled with “confidentiality.”

“I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this will clear the vessel of all negative rumors and speculations,” he wrote in a message to a New York Times reporter.

The mystery about the ship’s owner arose because — even for the hyper-confidential world of superyachting — there is an unusual degree of secrecy surrounding this vessel. Not only do contractors and crew members sign nondisclosure agreements, as on many superyachts, but the ship also has a cover to hide its name plate. And when it first arrived at the port, workers erected a tall metallic barrier on the pier to partly obscure the yacht from onlookers. Some locals remarked that they had never seen anything like it for other boats.

In his State of the Union address last week, President Biden announced a Justice Department task force to go after oligarchs close to Mr. Putin and facing sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions have been imposed against hundreds of people, and the list keeps growing.

Last week, French authorities seized the yacht Amore Vero near Marseille as it was preparing to depart, claiming it was owned by a man on that list: Igor Sechin, the head of the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft. In Italy, police in Sanremo impounded Lena, a yacht belonging to Gennady Timchenko, a Putin friend who controls an oil exporting company. In nearby Imperia, police also impounded the Lady M, a yacht belonging to Alexei Mordashov, Russia’s richest man. The fate of the Dilbar, one of the world’s biggest yachts that the United States says belongs to the oligarch Alisher Usmanov, is unclear. It is in Hamburg, and German officials said the vessel could not leave without an export waiver, Bloomberg News reported .

Some of the biggest superyachts are owned by Russians who are not on the sanctions list. The world’s second-largest, Eclipse, which has a missile defense system and a mini submarine, is owned by Roman Abramovich, the billionaire who is selling his ownership stake in the British soccer club Chelsea. Andrey Melnichenko, a billionaire coal baron, owns Sailing Yacht A.

Determining the ownership of assets that the wealthy want to keep hidden is difficult, especially without a warrant, because they are often zealously guarded by private bankers and lawyers and tucked away in opaque shell companies in offshore secrecy havens. The Scheherazade is flagged in the Cayman Islands and its owner, Bielor Assets Ltd. , is registered in the Marshall Islands. The yacht’s management company, which Captain Bennett-Pearce says is also registered in the Cayman Islands, works from the ship and uses his rental villa in nearby Lucca as its address.

One trade website, which bills itself as “the global authority in superyachting,” claims that the vessel’s owner is “known to be a Middle Eastern billionaire.” The Scheherazade shares a name with the female storyteller in “The Arabian Nights,” and it made one brief foray into the Red Sea in September 2020, calling at the Egyptian port of Hurghada. But mostly it stays in Marina di Carrara, where it has been moored since last September.

Locals have their own theory about the ship’s ownership. Some have heard people onboard speaking Russian. And Scheherazade is also the title of a symphonic work by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

“Everybody calls it Putin’s yacht, but nobody knows whose it is,” said Ernesto Rossi, a retired clerk who was taking a walk along the marina’s promenade on Friday. “It’s a rumor that’s been going around for months.”

In Italy, the phrase “Putin’s yacht” has become shorthand for a mysterious and ultra-luxurious ship. It’s also a joke among the dozens of crew members, Captain Bennett-Pearce said. “I’ve heard the same rumors.”

Another, smaller vessel, the Graceful, has long been tied to the Russian president and is known as “Putin’s yacht.” It was tracked leaving Germany for the Russian port of Kaliningrad just weeks before the invasion of Ukraine. (U.S. government officials point out that Mr. Putin owns little outright; many of the luxurious homes or ships he uses are owned by oligarchs.)

Mr. Putin appears to have a penchant for big pleasure boats. During his time as Russia’s leader, he’s been photographed on yachts from Russia’s northern reaches to the Black Sea in the south. Last May, he and Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, took a cruise on a yacht at the Black Sea resort city of Sochi.

The Scheherazade’s builder, Lurssen Group, whose website promises customers “complete confidentiality,” declined to comment about its ownership. Until June 2020, when the completed ship left the pier in Bremen, Germany, it had the code name “Lightning.” The same company built the even bigger superyacht the Dilbar. A similar gigantic yacht, code-named “Luminance,” is now being built at Lurssen, scheduled to be completed next year.

“Of course, all orders and projects of the Lurssen Group and its subsidiaries are treated in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations,” said Oliver Grun, a company spokesman.

About 70 percent of the Scheherazade’s crew is Russian, Captain Bennett-Pearce said. And during each of the past two summers, it has sailed to Sochi, the last time in early July 2021, according to MarineTraffic, a top maritime analytics provider. The ship’s construction was managed by Imperial Yachts, a company in Monaco that, Reuters reported , manages the Amore Vero, Mr. Sechin’s seized yacht. Nick Flashman, who oversees construction of large vessels at Imperial Yachts, declined to comment.

One former crew member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the nondisclosure agreement, said that shipmates called it “Putin’s yacht.” The person said the ship was manned by an international crew during “boss off” times; when it was “boss on,” the crew was replaced by an all-Russian staff. In the weeks before the Scheherazade’s 2020 trip to the Black Sea, the foreign crew was dismissed, the person said.

The former crew member supplied photos of rosters of both international and Russian crew members. The Times reached out, via social media, phone or email, to at least 17 of them. Few responded.

One of the Russians said only that he had worked on the Scheherazade, citing a nondisclosure agreement. Another person said it would be dangerous to talk. One man denied serving on the vessel; another said he hadn’t worked at sea in 25 years.

Captain Bennett-Pearce said “categorically there is not a European crew that comes on and a Russian crew that comes on.” Many of the ship’s senior officers are from Britain, New Zealand and Spain. Many international crew members were dismissed in 2020, replaced by Russians who didn’t demand the high salaries and benefits that their predecessors had, the captain said. “It came down to economics,” he said.

Given the antipathy that people outside of Russia have toward Mr. Putin, if the Russian president really were the owner or principal user of the yacht, keeping non-Russian senior crew members like him on staff would make no sense, Captain Bennett-Pearce said.

“If there’s a European crew onboard it’s the biggest smoke and mirror and the biggest risk I’ve ever heard of,” he said.

Reporting was contributed by Dmitriy Khavin , Christoph Koettl , Julian E. Barnes , Jason Horowitz , Rebecca R. Ruiz and Eric Schmitt .

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to the new task force announced by President Biden in his State of the Union address. He announced a Justice Department task force to pursue and seize the assets of oligarchs associated with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, not a joint task force with partners in Europe, which was previously announced.

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Michael Forsythe is a reporter on the investigations team. He was previously a correspondent in Hong Kong, covering the intersection of money and politics in China. He has also worked at Bloomberg News and is a United States Navy veteran. More about Michael Forsythe

Gaia Pianigiani is a reporter based in Italy for The New York Times.  More about Gaia Pianigiani

David D. Kirkpatrick is an investigative reporter based in New York and the author of “Into the Hands of the Soldiers: Freedom and Chaos in Egypt and the Middle East.“ In 2020 he shared a Pulitzer Prize for reporting on covert Russian interference in other governments and as the Cairo bureau chief from 2011 to 2015 he led coverage of the Arab Spring uprisings. More about David D. Kirkpatrick

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The Biden administration announced a series of new financial sanctions  aimed at interrupting the technological links between China and Russia that U.S. officials believe are a broad effort to rebuild and modernize Russia’s military.

Zelensky Interview: In an interview with The New York Times, the Ukrainian president challenged the West  over its reluctance to take bolder action.

A Plaque From Putin : Since Russia invaded Ukraine, controversy has surrounded a copper plate signed by Putin in Bari, Italy. Now some residents hope Zelensky will help rid them of it .

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‘teen mom’ star amber portwood’s missing fiancé, gary wayt, seen on video in oklahoma.

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Amber Portwood’s missing fiancé , Gary Wayt, was seen on video surveillance in Oklahoma on Wednesday, Bryson City Police confirmed to Page Six.

We’re told police got a notification that his license plate was on the highway and got a video of him driving his car in the Sooner State — hundreds of miles from where he was last seen with the “Teen Mom” star in North Carolina.

Additionally, a Verizon store in Oklahoma also confirmed to authorities that he was there. It’s unclear if he purchased anything.

Page Six reached out to Portwood for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

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On Tuesday, Portwood, 34, admitted she was “worried” about Wayt after he was reported missing the day prior.

“This is a huge deal, his parents, everybody is very worried. I am worried,” the MTV star told Elle Bee on YouTube .

“There was not a big blowout fight or anything like that, OK? He is a missing person right now.”

Portwood shared that Wayt, 39, left the North Carolina residence where they were staying without his phone and was later spotted alone at Walgreens on Sunday.

The mom of two added that Wayt took his keys and wallet with him but he doesn’t have a GPS in his car to find his way around.

“We are in the mountains,” she explained. “He has never driven in the mountains. We are very scared right now.”

The “Never Too Late” author then became emotional as she shared that no one had heard from her fiancé “in three days.”

She also denied reports that they got into an “explosive argument” before he left.

“I am not what people have been saying about me all of these years,” Portwood added, seemingly referring to past reports about  her alleged violent past .

“I changed a long time ago, OK, you have to understand this. Please listen to what I am saying, I am an honest person to you guys.”

However, Portwood did share that they had an “emotional” conversation about Wayt’s “parents being Vietnamese” and who she is.

On Tuesday, Bryson police posted that Wayt was missing on their Facebook page.

“Missing person GARY R. WAYT. 39 yrs old. 6’01” 205 pounds bald with brown eyes, last seen 06/09/2024 on Arlington Ave. area of Bryson City NC,” they wrote .

Authorities said Wayt was driving a 2009 grey SUV Nissan Rouge with Indiana license plates. They asked for anyone with information to contact Chief Robinson or Assistant Chief Dover.

In June 2024, news surfaced that Portwood and Wayt got engaged after meeting through a dating app the year prior.

She is mom to daughter Leah, 15, with ex Gary Shirley and son James, 6, whom she shares with ex Andrew Glennon.

In 2022, Portwood lost custody of her second child following a heated altercation with his father.

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