As Western governments scrabble to identify the luxury yachts of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, the ownership of Scheherazade, a 495′ long superyacht, docked in Marina di Carrara, a small Italian town on the Tuscan coast, remains a mystery. Valued at $700 million dollars and almost as long as an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, Scheherazade is one of the 14th largest superyachts and is alone in that no likely owner has been publicly identified.

The New York Times observes that 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 is also registered in the Cayman Islands.

So while clearly a billionaire’s yacht, Italian authorities are asking, which billionaire? The Superyacht Fan website designates the owner of the Scheherazade as an “Unknown Middle East 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, not long after its delivery, calling at the Egyptian port of Hurghada. But mostly it stays in Marina di Carrara, where it has been moored since last September.

On the other hand, Tuscan locals have nicknamed it “Putin’s yacht.” The NY Times notes that in Italy, the phrase “Putin’s yacht” has become shorthand for a mysterious and ultra-luxurious ship.

“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.”

The Scheherazade‘s master, Captain Guy Bennett-Pearce said he had “no choice” but to hand over documents revealing the owner’s identity to the Italian authorities. He said he 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.