LUMINOSITY

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Crews of sanctioned oligarch yachts can be paid

The Burgess Crew Services (BCS) has been granted a license by the UK government to pay the crews of the 'Luminosity' and 'Alfa Nero 'the salaries that were withheld due to sanctions. Having secured the licence from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), crew members who were employed on board the yachts at the time sanctions were imposed will likely get their salaries before the year’s end. The license allows Burgess Crew Services (BCS) PCC Ltd. to pay all outstanding agreed salaries and notice as set out in the termination of employment letters issued to each crew member in March 2022 at the time the sanctions were imposed. It also allows BCS to pass on the 'Alfa Nero' gratuity to the crew that was agreed upon before sanctions were imposed. Due to the nature of the sanctions, however, Burgess is unable to pay any salaries for any work or services that occurred past the date of the owner’s designation. A large proportion of the money held to pay the crew is in US dollars and authorities require any transaction using US dollars to have an Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) license first. Despite this, Burgess remained hopeful that both crews will be paid in full before the end of the year. BCS was also applying for a license to release the money from the Policy & Resources Committee in Guernsey,” says Medd. Both yachts allegedly belong to the sanctioned Russian oligarch Andrei Guryev, who was sanctioned by the UK, EU and US shortly after the invasion of Ukraine.