The rich and powerful are using their superyachts for secret meetings far from prying eyes

The rich and powerful are using their superyachts for secret meetings far from prying eyes

The superyacht is the ultimate symbol of wealth power and status, and . One crucial attraction they offer is extreme privacy: yachts provide a forum for meetings at sea, beyond the jurisdiction of any country and very difficult to spy on. on the hidden world of yacht-borne power meetings. The vessels let rich and powerful talk freely and make connections away from prying eyes and scrutiny. Even who owns the yachts can be hard to figure out — they are often bought by offshore companies on behalf of billionaire owners, giving them an extra shield of privacy. Superyacht owners are said to include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. In the wake of the war in Ukraine, the superyacht sector and its complicated ownership structures came under new scrutiny, by wealthy Russians subject to sanctions for their ties to the Kremlin. "These are very private assets and one of the reasons they're bought is for privacy," Sam Tucker, head of superyacht research at market intelligence firm VesselsValue, The popularity of the vessels is sparking a security race, as spies and tabloid journalists try to breach the layers of privacy on