Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck appear to have sailed on a recently-seized yacht linked to a former Russian KGB officer.
The $150m superyacht, Valerie, was seized by officials in Spain on 14 March. Two sources for Reuters said the 85-metre (279-ft) superyacht belongs to Sergei Chemezov, CEO of Russian state conglomerate Rostec and former KGB agent who served with Vladimir Putin.
Lopez and Affleck chartered Valerie in July 2021, according to Boat International. The yacht accommodates 17 guests in nine cabins, contains a six-metre swimming pool, multiple jacuzzis, and has its own helipad. The yacht is listed for sale with Dynamiq Sales and Charter for €89m ($98m) after being originally listed for €120m.
Lopez and Affleck chartered the yacht last summer to celebrate the singer’s 52nd birthday and their rekindled romance. Photos and videos shared to Lopez’s Instagram from the vacation match the promotional images for Valerie listed on the site, as first reported by Insider.
The vessel is registered to Chemezov’s stepdaughter, Anastasia Ignatova, through a British Virgin Islands company, according to a 2021 report published after the Pandora Papers information leak.
The seizure of the $150m superyacht follows a series of sanctions levied on Russia that investigates the ownership of superyachts associated with Russian oligarchs amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This week, a £530m mega-yacht owned by Russian oligarch Andrey Melnichenko was seized by Italian authorities.
