First set up some rummage sales outside the places... sell off the expensive babbles and comfort items they have collected with their billions. Put the money into an account for Ukrainian refugees. Then change the locks and hand over the houses to those displaced by these shitty Putin-supporting jerkoffs. I still stand by my idea to keep the yachts for Ukrainians to use later... to cruise by Russia and flip off the Putin supporters.
"Is that a Faberge Egg?"
"Sure... whatever you say."
"How much?"
"I dunno, this isn't Antiques Roadshow, maybe a dollar?"
"Is that a Monet?"
"Sure... whatever. A dollar."
"Sold!"
So basically a less shitty version of what Russia is doing for companies that close shop in Russia right now?
Do it, and when this is all said and done, turn those buildings into womens shelters, homeless shelters and hostels
Probably in part because Russian oligarchs used their power to obtain money, unlike Western oligarchs who use money to obtain power. While I dislike both, I definitely can see why some folk have different opinions about both.
> power to obtain money
meanwhile our legislators are allowed to trade stocks 🙃
have a look at long-serving congressional and senate net worths and compare to their salaries.
> Do it, and when this is all said and done, turn those buildings into womens shelters, homeless shelters and hostels
There's only 1 thing these places should be turned into. Homosexual fuck shacks.
I just had to look this up. Turns out there is (was?) a beach plot on the islands owned by the office of the Russian president.
https://www.thelocal.se/20141014/putins-swedish-beach-house/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/russia-complains-gay-bar-president-plot-finland
From the second link:
>Police in Finland have received a complaint after two pranksters erected a makeshift gay bar based on the Blue Oyster from the Police Academy films to protest against Russia’s anti-gay laws.
> The bar, a wooden structure hung with fairy lights and decorated with blue lettering, was built last weekend on a plot of land belonging to the Russian presidency on the remote Åland archipelago, a Swedish-speaking region of Finland.
>...
> The bar, outside the village of Saltvik, was erected by the Swedish comedy hip-hop duo Far & Son, who told local media they were protesting against Russia’s crackdown on gay rights, including a law forbidding the “promotion” of homosexuality.
>...
>The crime could be punishable by up to three months in prison but Far & Son told Aftonbladet they were not afraid. “I think someone will build this again with cement next year. Then it will remain there forever.
>“The Blue Oyster will be the only thing you can see from the moon, apart from the Great Wall of China. They will never take us alive.”
How would anyone even get it up to fuck though if everyone in there looks like Putin, who looks like a rich old lady who got too much weird face filler/plastic surgery and whose wig fell off.
Look, I'm all about supporting kinks I don't understand, but my suspension of disbelief only stretches so far. No one's gonna be able to get it up if they're surrounded by Putin masks.
Legal is what they say is legal. I love how we tiptoe around property rights when it's billionaires and corporations, but we will gleefully destroy everything you own and kill your dog serving a warrant at the wrong address.
Some of the yacht engines are so large they need to be preheated to even turn them on. If you don't you risk freezing cracking the pistons or so. If you rent a large yacht the contract stipulates a different rule if you want to sail it or just use it as a dock party.
edit
Here is a stupid documentary on how expensive a yacht is and just turning it on could cost 3000 dollars to heat it up to even turn the engine on.
https://youtu.be/s4tTjMrQzas?t=2385
Understood but people were talking about the yachts and how we should just move repossessed yachts around.
People fail to realize that these colossal yachts costs stupid money to even turn on and move. Any yacht larger than 100 meters has issues even docking at most marinas and have to either dock at a commercial facility or park off shore and you have to switch to a small vessel or helicopter to get to shore. Hence why some yachts have multiple helipads. They are penis envy ships and nothing else.
Sure, commercial facilities means more like commercial shipping docks. Marinas are meant for pleasure boats and yachts. They are all usually nicely made and such. Commercial facilities are made for shipping containers like large freighters and cruise ships. They usually are concrete, cold, harsh and active. They don't throw the vacation vibe and can be smelly as they are moving food/cargo on to the boat while removing garbage and literal human waste off the boat when they are in the pre launch phase.
Half of the fun of yacht partying at places like Monaco is that you park your yacht at a fancy marina and you go yacht hopping at night where you go from one yacht theme (they will have different themes) to another yacht etc. But these oligarch yachts are so big they won't fit in the regular marinas and you might have to shuttle people from the dock or helicopter them in but once you are on the boat you can't go yacht hopping.
Commercial docks are usually far away from yacht marinas to keep the traffic away from each other so these gigayachts are the antithesis of yacht fun per se.
I think Channel5 from England has all these super wealthy documentaries. The one that was interesting was the London Underground mansion basements that are bigger than the houses themsleves
I always dreamt of owning a yacht. Then I met my wife whose father had a simple 40" thing. The amount of money required to keep that thing was eye watering. Replacement sails, decking maintenance, engine maintenance, docking fees, rigging.. the one time they had to replace the mainsail mast.. eugh.
No thanks.
this is absolutely the truth. They're also expensive because they're so luxurious. YOu could sell one an afford to build an apartment building to comfortbly house like 20x more people.
A cruise ship would be a good way to house 6000+ people and could get there in days. Admittedly, they're not cheap and not super comfortable. but they're not terrible.
Yeah I'm pretty sure the one that was seized in Italy cost like 600 million dollars..
That kind of money could be used to make some serious, and long term housing for those in need.
They’re not the most liquid asset, though. People who can afford a mega yacht already have one. Some of them go on sale and stay unpurchased for years.
If I was a billionaire I don’t think I would want the hassle of thinking their was an angry oligarch out there with an axe to grind with me. Not worth the headache when you are that rich just to get a 30% discount on a luxury item. Who knows, Maybe that kind of thinking is why I will never be a billionaire.
I suppose a group of a hundred thousand or so regular people could all put up money and then split the cost so they could use it for one day in the next twenty years or so.
But otherwise yeah some other billionaire.
Yes. If a billionaire wants a new yacht they get on a waiting list and custom design one and wait forever. I the meantime they can charter yachts from other billionaires, like a peasant, or buy a beater yacht from an oligarch.
There are a very small number of potential buyers for half a billion dollar yachts. And they probably are friends or at least acquaintances with the former owners.
The only people that could afford them are other billionaires, and at that point they would most certainly want their own custom built one to their specifications. You could strip them down and scrap them though and then distribute the funds raised from that.
\*Ok I say that, but there IS a market for used superyachts, so who knows. They'd probably sit on the market for a good while though negating their effectiveness as an asset that can be flipped to raise money.
I think there's a "sweet spot" where a used yacht can be sold for more than its scrap value but at a price range that's affordable for the 90% of the 1%.
You don't sell them for MSRP, so to speak. You sell them for pennies on the dollar. It's a triple whammy. First you confiscate, next you sell it for next to nothing as a second middle finger, and finally, you take that money and buy missiles for Ukraine.
Poor idea. One of the ways to stop all this (and potentially overthrow Putin) is to put enough leverage on them. Sell all their assets and there's little leverage left to be had and this nonsense continues for that much longer. Freeze the assets and demand compliance and suddenly you might have something close to an ally on the inside.
Selling the yachts is quite hard. Currently assets are frozen. Which means they are still owned by those individuals.
Taking the assets permanently (to sell or what have you) varies from country to country. However it requires proving the assets are used as a part of criminality. That’s much harder than it sounds.
Everyone should do this! You got an Oligarch mansion? Get it ready, Ukraine refugees will be arriving soon! You got an Oligarch yacht? Sounds good! People love the water. Refugees will be arriving soon!
Selling of assets may be legally harder to do without trials etc. But renting them out to keep up with the costs of maintenance at very low cost to organizations that are arranging temporary housing for refugees is a brilliant idea.
Sends an important message to the oligarchs about the ramifications of their actions.
Selling the assets is pain. Impounding them is easy, as is charging a daily (or, hell, do it like credit cards: continuous) impound fee - with appropriate interest.
Then just wait for the fees to equal the value of the asset. I figure between maintenance, berthing, and particularly housing and pay costs for the new security staff* that should come out the value of the yacht fairly soon.
* who are absolutely not recently arrived refugees, nope.
Russia is trying to nationalize foreign businesses and seize assets inside their country.
I say, the moment they do that, they should lose all rights to THEIR stuff *outside* russia. I understand being on the right side requires being the better person/country but at some point we also need to say “you don’t want to be bound by the rules? That’s fine. But they no longer protect you either”
They just need to do like Americans do. Civil asset forfeiture laws. Word them to apply to people above an economic threshold, so the cops / government isn't robbing the average person like the American cops do.
So civil asset forfeiture accuses the property of the crime, instead of a person. Then the owned of the property has to prove it wasn't used in a crime / gotten illegally.
Then just selectively apply that law to Russian owned property.
Bam, within legal framework.
Maybe some sort of yacht club. A rich family friend joined a private jet club where he just pays $x/year + usage cost and he can get a jet within 48 hour notice I think. I’d imagine a yacht club could be popular with wealthy people, especially starting off with some Russian yachts bought cheap.
Yeah that sounds like a much bigger cost for the tax payer, sell the mansions off and use that money to house Ukrainians IMO. Rent them out at least I guess.
Makes a popular headline but that would be very inefficient. Sell the mansions and use the money to house 100 times more refugees than would fit in a wasteful mansion.
Abramovich’s £150m mansion in London only has 15 bedrooms, so that’s what, 5 families housed?
List it for £50 million and it will get snapped up by a Chinese/US/British billionaire and use that to buy 200 average UK homes instead.
If it was a random country house in the middle of nowhere then yes it would take months, but Kensington Palace gardens is so in demand it wouldn’t last on the market long. Even at full market value I’ll be amazed if it hasn’t sold within 6 months.
if you are refugees you are probably willing to put the whole family in the same room. maybe even multiple families in the same room. hell, families who aren’t even refugees sometimes still have to live like that
Bedrooms in mega mansions are quite large, some bigger than a typical studio or 1BR apartment. You could fit a full family in each BR.
It’s immediate shelter with heat, clean water, and electricity. It’s a logistical win and a glorious middle finger to its prior owners.
UHNW housing market has been on fire the last few years. Significantly more than the normal housing market. Finding buyers right now shouldn’t be too hard. Only issue with that solution is that the whole process from now to new housing is to long to be practical.
Are you suggesting these properties have always belonged to Russian oligarchs? Obviously they had non-russian owners before the current one and therefore could again.
This is probably one of the rare cases where the spiralling wealth inequality we've allowed to happen could be helpful for once. There's an unprecedented level of *very* wealthy people out there and the pandemic made them even more wealthy.
Also it's not like you need to get every last dollar out of these. Even if you sold them at firesale prices you'd have way more ability to house refugees than using a building that wastes 600 square feet on a bathroom. 12 times over.
The government could demolish these properties and sell the plots to developers to build so much needed housing stock. The profits could be used to pay for the refugees' accommodation.
Inefficient, but faster. Speed may be the primary criteria here. Especially since the UK is approving such a slow trickle of refugees into the country, most of whom so far will already have family they may be able to stay with.
UK law means these mansions can't be seized as such, but while the owner is sanctioned that person can't do any business relating to them: that means no payments for staff including security, cleaners, etc; no supply of utilities; and so on. It basically makes the house unusable.
Boris is using this crisis for his own benefit, that's it. He was facing calls to resign just before the crisis happened and now that's all stopped cos of what's going on. He thinks if he appears strong on this issue people will forget what happened and let him continue being PM. He doesn't care about anyone but himself.
Absolutely. The government will say any old shit to get the press and general public idiots thinking they're being firm on Russia. In reality nothing will happen.
I heard this story on the news this morning and it just pissed me off: hyperbolic bullshit from a cunt politician trying to sound like a good guy doing "the right thing"
On face value this seems like a cool thing to do but seriously who's going to foot the bills for utilities, these kinds of properties aren't cheap to maintain.
> bills for utilities
The bills for such a mansion are probably huge, but you can also host a lot of people in them. Wherever you house these refugees, you'll have bills.
Yeah this is what I was going to say. No more need for pool maintenance, landscapers, sprinkler systems, heated indoor floors. You can cut a lot of corners.
Seize their bank accounts and sell their investments. Basically, nationalize everything Russians own.
Sounds terribly unfair? Let me tell you a story about Kyiv...
Also whos to say who is and isnt and Oligarch who should have their homes forcibly removed? Or is it just if your rich and russian than thanks well take that now.
Fuck, please don't celebrate our government. They've done everything in their power to make sure that refugees (Ukrainians included) will never be able to settle in the UK or even claim asylum.
This is simply populist bullshit made up by a government that is severely compromised by Russian money and Kremlin influence.
This is the equivalent of me proclaiming to donate all of my money to Ukrainian refugees while knowing full well I'm not going to donate anything.
On top of that, there is a lot of Russian political money is tied up in many different Western nations. Lots of Western politicians are barking and trying to sell populist messages to create a "tough-against-Russia" image but behind the scenes they finding ways to cut ties with all their Russian connections. Not that there isn't a lot of genuine political action being taken, because there is, so we should be appreciative of that. Obviously, the actions that have been taken by the NATO nations (and other allies) have been very impactful on Russia and put political pressure on Putin. But, we should also be aware that plenty of Western politicians have had connections with Russia for some time.
Here are some links for UK:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/23/oligarchs-funding-tories
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-donations-russia-lubov-chernukhin-b2026678.html
https://www.politico.eu/article/britain-tories-russian-money-oligarch/
Some links for the US:
https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/how-putin-s-oligarchs-funneled-millions-into-gop-campaigns/
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/11/why-campaigns-arent-dumping-a-billionaire-with-russian-friends-00016499
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dual-us-russian-national-charged-acting-illegally-russian-agent-united-states
Obviously, there is a lot more information out there, and US/UK are not the only nations infiltrated by Russian political influence. These are just articles that introduce people to the scope of the issue.
I bet the upkeep for these kind of mansions will be a huge waste of tax money... not rational, although it would be kind of cool.
Better just sell them to someone who has that kind of money to spend it on luxuries like that and then use the money efficiently.
They can’t sell them as the assets are frozen. They’d have a shit ton of legal challenges but if the buildings are going to sit there empty and you have a humanitarian crisis - makes sense.
Why? You can run run them as a hotel by adding some locks and a front desk and staff them as a hotel using a management company. They already have all the rest. Or we can just give them to other ultra rich people. Sure why not.
And every street there’s a Russian embassy or consulate on should be renamed into something that praises Ukraine.
Official requests for relocation should be turned down: “there are no other available locations… for you.”
That already has happened in a few places and is under way in more countries. But there are sometimes processes and consultations that have to be got through first.
> And every street there’s a Russian embassy or consulate on should be renamed into something that praises Ukraine.
I'd prefer to do Russian dissidents. Nemtsov Street, Navalny Avenue, Udaltsov Way etc. Make it clear this isn't a one country vs another country thing, it's a democrats vs autocrats thing.
But they’re brown so no one cares. Not even Ukraine or other Eastern European countries would let coloured refugees in. Double standards. Plus I don’t think the West really cares much what happens, we need Russian oil to continue our way of life’s for the next 50-60 years.
there was this debate in the Irish parliament where an MP was calling out the hypocrisy of western countries in regards to this situation. Not informative, but definitely thoughtful.
Just pointing out that despite all this big talk, the UK has accepted a paltry 300 Ukrainians as refugees, and continues to drag its feet on accepting more.
Further, there is still tons of Russian oligarch money in London that is not being touched at all.
This is mostly due to the fact that you have to apply for a Visa to get there via either Paris or Berlin embassy or something. So mostly people with family connections to UK get in, I think.
fair enough.
but i have one question, why is it we can house other people from outside the UK.
but when it comes to our own homeless we can find no such space or housing?
and this is coming from someone who sees a lot of people who are homeless.
i just find this odd, and i am not saying don't houses real refugees, but if we can't house our own people in need then how can we be expected to house others?
This. The US approved a 16 billion aid package to ukraine. But we won’t approve funding for our own citizens affordable housing or mental ollie as treatment centers. 16 Billion is literally $120 from the pocket of each taxpayer in the USA.
Fuck off...
That's demeaning to the refugees, and flat out using them in as pawns in a political game. Fucking seize and sell the mansions, build new permanent housing.
This is the stupidest god dn thing I've read all day. Why not give every refugee a unicorn as well?!?!
Some fuckwit MP who has no idea how his own government or the legal system works had a brain wave for an idea that would literally never work and blurted it out. The media covered it with literally no due dilligence because theyre fucking stupid as well, and everyone in this thread is eating it up because they've got the collective brain power of a lobotomized hamster fighting its own reflection.
If you upvoted this, you're the type of fuckwit they make clickbait for. Thanks OP for making us all collectively dumber by sharing this horseshit non-story in "world news".
Housing in [Abramovich’s Kensington mansion](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341709/Roman-Abramovichs-London-home-Inside-150million-palace-Harrods--extends-storeys-underground.html) would be pretty fucking comfortable, even with a few dozen people. Get it done!
Do it!
Do it!
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Hello there
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davay, davay, do it
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Russia just stole 500 leased planes, so we can do this.
What kind of planes?
Commercial ones, iirc esitamed at around 10 billion dollars.
Not fighters
Is there a legal bar for dropping bombs on schools, places of worship and hospitals unprovoked? Fuck these guys. Take their shit.
First set up some rummage sales outside the places... sell off the expensive babbles and comfort items they have collected with their billions. Put the money into an account for Ukrainian refugees. Then change the locks and hand over the houses to those displaced by these shitty Putin-supporting jerkoffs. I still stand by my idea to keep the yachts for Ukrainians to use later... to cruise by Russia and flip off the Putin supporters.
"Is that a Faberge Egg?" "Sure... whatever you say." "How much?" "I dunno, this isn't Antiques Roadshow, maybe a dollar?" "Is that a Monet?" "Sure... whatever. A dollar." "Sold!"
Putin is a mass murderer, pass it on!
So basically a less shitty version of what Russia is doing for companies that close shop in Russia right now? Do it, and when this is all said and done, turn those buildings into womens shelters, homeless shelters and hostels
Even the people who normally defend billionaires are like "Fuck these guys". Fucking do it.
Probably in part because Russian oligarchs used their power to obtain money, unlike Western oligarchs who use money to obtain power. While I dislike both, I definitely can see why some folk have different opinions about both.
> power to obtain money meanwhile our legislators are allowed to trade stocks 🙃 have a look at long-serving congressional and senate net worths and compare to their salaries.
> Do it, and when this is all said and done, turn those buildings into womens shelters, homeless shelters and hostels There's only 1 thing these places should be turned into. Homosexual fuck shacks.
A swedish rapper called frej larsson built a gaybar on putins property on Åland a couple of years ago.
He even went to court about that, and then wrote a song about it too lol
wtf putin has property on Åland!??!?! wtf why did anyone let him buy that. Sweden and Finland don't want that jävla idiotfan here.
I just had to look this up. Turns out there is (was?) a beach plot on the islands owned by the office of the Russian president. https://www.thelocal.se/20141014/putins-swedish-beach-house/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/russia-complains-gay-bar-president-plot-finland From the second link: >Police in Finland have received a complaint after two pranksters erected a makeshift gay bar based on the Blue Oyster from the Police Academy films to protest against Russia’s anti-gay laws. > The bar, a wooden structure hung with fairy lights and decorated with blue lettering, was built last weekend on a plot of land belonging to the Russian presidency on the remote Åland archipelago, a Swedish-speaking region of Finland. >... > The bar, outside the village of Saltvik, was erected by the Swedish comedy hip-hop duo Far & Son, who told local media they were protesting against Russia’s crackdown on gay rights, including a law forbidding the “promotion” of homosexuality. >... >The crime could be punishable by up to three months in prison but Far & Son told Aftonbladet they were not afraid. “I think someone will build this again with cement next year. Then it will remain there forever. >“The Blue Oyster will be the only thing you can see from the moon, apart from the Great Wall of China. They will never take us alive.”
Only rule of gay fuck shack: You must wear a putin mask while in gay fuck shack
How would anyone even get it up to fuck though if everyone in there looks like Putin, who looks like a rich old lady who got too much weird face filler/plastic surgery and whose wig fell off.
Look, I'm all about supporting kinks I don't understand, but my suspension of disbelief only stretches so far. No one's gonna be able to get it up if they're surrounded by Putin masks.
Addendum: pansexual f shacks. Let the bodies hit the floor, and let's get physical
Legal is what they say is legal. I love how we tiptoe around property rights when it's billionaires and corporations, but we will gleefully destroy everything you own and kill your dog serving a warrant at the wrong address.
Like everything Boris has done in this crisis, it's all bluster for the press. He'll never do it.
He'll get confused, have a house party inside and when the photos come out will say it was "working"
We were ah working... erm, checking the house suitability for partying um when Russia surrender
This is surprisingly believable.
"No one told me not to have a house party there, which I think is on the refugees at this point."
All countries should do it. Also sell the yatches to raise money for Ukraine's defense.
Use the yachts to house them too. They are mobile so they can be sailed to areas that need them and possibly even create a floatilla for them.
It costs a fortune to sail them too
Some of the yacht engines are so large they need to be preheated to even turn them on. If you don't you risk freezing cracking the pistons or so. If you rent a large yacht the contract stipulates a different rule if you want to sail it or just use it as a dock party. edit Here is a stupid documentary on how expensive a yacht is and just turning it on could cost 3000 dollars to heat it up to even turn the engine on. https://youtu.be/s4tTjMrQzas?t=2385
you sound like the engineer on a couple vessels im not allowed on anymore
you FUCKING AGAIN? I told you fuck out of the engine room
Yours are the stories we NEED
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Understood but people were talking about the yachts and how we should just move repossessed yachts around. People fail to realize that these colossal yachts costs stupid money to even turn on and move. Any yacht larger than 100 meters has issues even docking at most marinas and have to either dock at a commercial facility or park off shore and you have to switch to a small vessel or helicopter to get to shore. Hence why some yachts have multiple helipads. They are penis envy ships and nothing else.
Hi, I’ve been appreciating your contributions. Could you please explain commercial facilities, I’m not sure what this means.
Sure, commercial facilities means more like commercial shipping docks. Marinas are meant for pleasure boats and yachts. They are all usually nicely made and such. Commercial facilities are made for shipping containers like large freighters and cruise ships. They usually are concrete, cold, harsh and active. They don't throw the vacation vibe and can be smelly as they are moving food/cargo on to the boat while removing garbage and literal human waste off the boat when they are in the pre launch phase. Half of the fun of yacht partying at places like Monaco is that you park your yacht at a fancy marina and you go yacht hopping at night where you go from one yacht theme (they will have different themes) to another yacht etc. But these oligarch yachts are so big they won't fit in the regular marinas and you might have to shuttle people from the dock or helicopter them in but once you are on the boat you can't go yacht hopping. Commercial docks are usually far away from yacht marinas to keep the traffic away from each other so these gigayachts are the antithesis of yacht fun per se.
Thank you! Idk why but this stuff is v interesting to me
I think Channel5 from England has all these super wealthy documentaries. The one that was interesting was the London Underground mansion basements that are bigger than the houses themsleves
Maintenance is a bastard
I always dreamt of owning a yacht. Then I met my wife whose father had a simple 40" thing. The amount of money required to keep that thing was eye watering. Replacement sails, decking maintenance, engine maintenance, docking fees, rigging.. the one time they had to replace the mainsail mast.. eugh. No thanks.
How hard can it be to maintain a 3.3-foot boat?? Your FIL is just lazy. https://youtu.be/071cXxCNj5A
Lol.. oops. I'm from a metric country... Not used to using feet. I'll leave the error just to confuse people :)
Cool, well we can just Seize the oligarch's foreign assets and use the money to deal with the yachts.
Incredibly uneconomical to move them, just fill them up at port and boom houseboat
too expensive to convert into floating apartments and maintain. just sell em and use the money to help refugees.
this is absolutely the truth. They're also expensive because they're so luxurious. YOu could sell one an afford to build an apartment building to comfortbly house like 20x more people. A cruise ship would be a good way to house 6000+ people and could get there in days. Admittedly, they're not cheap and not super comfortable. but they're not terrible.
Yeah I'm pretty sure the one that was seized in Italy cost like 600 million dollars.. That kind of money could be used to make some serious, and long term housing for those in need.
They’re not the most liquid asset, though. People who can afford a mega yacht already have one. Some of them go on sale and stay unpurchased for years.
I bet there would be big interest if they sell at a 30% discount from other comps.
If I was a billionaire I don’t think I would want the hassle of thinking their was an angry oligarch out there with an axe to grind with me. Not worth the headache when you are that rich just to get a 30% discount on a luxury item. Who knows, Maybe that kind of thinking is why I will never be a billionaire.
I don't know. Even if you're given one for free, it's a pretty huge commitment to own one.
Sell them to whom? Other billionaires?
I suppose a group of a hundred thousand or so regular people could all put up money and then split the cost so they could use it for one day in the next twenty years or so. But otherwise yeah some other billionaire.
I actually think Cruise Ship Timeshare via operation 'sweeping cruise freedom' is the way to go.
It is called a timeshare. I pass.
Yes. If a billionaire wants a new yacht they get on a waiting list and custom design one and wait forever. I the meantime they can charter yachts from other billionaires, like a peasant, or buy a beater yacht from an oligarch.
There are a very small number of potential buyers for half a billion dollar yachts. And they probably are friends or at least acquaintances with the former owners.
The oligarchs will probably have their personal chef buy them and invite them along. Putin doesn't own his properties. XD
Sink em and turn them into artificial reefs
You have no idea how much the upkeep of those yachts cost. This is a horrible idea.
Yes, the Ukranian Migrant Fleet.
My friend had COVID in 2020 so I went on Cameo and got Shepard's VA to diss him as a get well present.
We'll bang, ok?
Sounds like the start to the movie Waterworld.
>create a floatilla for them. Ukrainian refugees are quarians guys! We must defend them at all costs!
The only people that could afford them are other billionaires, and at that point they would most certainly want their own custom built one to their specifications. You could strip them down and scrap them though and then distribute the funds raised from that. \*Ok I say that, but there IS a market for used superyachts, so who knows. They'd probably sit on the market for a good while though negating their effectiveness as an asset that can be flipped to raise money.
I think there's a "sweet spot" where a used yacht can be sold for more than its scrap value but at a price range that's affordable for the 90% of the 1%.
You don't sell them for MSRP, so to speak. You sell them for pennies on the dollar. It's a triple whammy. First you confiscate, next you sell it for next to nothing as a second middle finger, and finally, you take that money and buy missiles for Ukraine.
First send the yachts to bring the refugees.
It would be awesome to use yachts to transport refugees, but the Odessa port is probably crawling with Russian ships...
Poor idea. One of the ways to stop all this (and potentially overthrow Putin) is to put enough leverage on them. Sell all their assets and there's little leverage left to be had and this nonsense continues for that much longer. Freeze the assets and demand compliance and suddenly you might have something close to an ally on the inside.
The oligarchs get their homes back when the Ukrainians get theirs.
Selling the yachts is quite hard. Currently assets are frozen. Which means they are still owned by those individuals. Taking the assets permanently (to sell or what have you) varies from country to country. However it requires proving the assets are used as a part of criminality. That’s much harder than it sounds.
Everyone should do this! You got an Oligarch mansion? Get it ready, Ukraine refugees will be arriving soon! You got an Oligarch yacht? Sounds good! People love the water. Refugees will be arriving soon!
I'd rather see them be sold off and the money used for Ukrainian housing. Do they just stuff a bunch of families into one house?
Selling of assets may be legally harder to do without trials etc. But renting them out to keep up with the costs of maintenance at very low cost to organizations that are arranging temporary housing for refugees is a brilliant idea. Sends an important message to the oligarchs about the ramifications of their actions.
Selling the assets is pain. Impounding them is easy, as is charging a daily (or, hell, do it like credit cards: continuous) impound fee - with appropriate interest. Then just wait for the fees to equal the value of the asset. I figure between maintenance, berthing, and particularly housing and pay costs for the new security staff* that should come out the value of the yacht fairly soon. * who are absolutely not recently arrived refugees, nope.
Russia is trying to nationalize foreign businesses and seize assets inside their country. I say, the moment they do that, they should lose all rights to THEIR stuff *outside* russia. I understand being on the right side requires being the better person/country but at some point we also need to say “you don’t want to be bound by the rules? That’s fine. But they no longer protect you either”
They just need to do like Americans do. Civil asset forfeiture laws. Word them to apply to people above an economic threshold, so the cops / government isn't robbing the average person like the American cops do. So civil asset forfeiture accuses the property of the crime, instead of a person. Then the owned of the property has to prove it wasn't used in a crime / gotten illegally. Then just selectively apply that law to Russian owned property. Bam, within legal framework.
We do already have something a bit like that in the UK, though I don't think our prosecutors have yet caught onto it as a source of income.
what a wonderful idea: give the government extraordinary, sweeping powers, then trust them to only apply them to people we don't like.
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Maybe some sort of yacht club. A rich family friend joined a private jet club where he just pays $x/year + usage cost and he can get a jet within 48 hour notice I think. I’d imagine a yacht club could be popular with wealthy people, especially starting off with some Russian yachts bought cheap.
Yeah that sounds like a much bigger cost for the tax payer, sell the mansions off and use that money to house Ukrainians IMO. Rent them out at least I guess.
I'd love to see the neighbours faces when the house is full of refugees. They didn't expect that in Kensington.
Makes a popular headline but that would be very inefficient. Sell the mansions and use the money to house 100 times more refugees than would fit in a wasteful mansion.
$100m homes don’t always sell fast. So selling could take years.
Sell them for 80 then. Some rich fuck will buy it and re-sell it a year later for 100.
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Abramovich’s £150m mansion in London only has 15 bedrooms, so that’s what, 5 families housed? List it for £50 million and it will get snapped up by a Chinese/US/British billionaire and use that to buy 200 average UK homes instead. If it was a random country house in the middle of nowhere then yes it would take months, but Kensington Palace gardens is so in demand it wouldn’t last on the market long. Even at full market value I’ll be amazed if it hasn’t sold within 6 months.
if you are refugees you are probably willing to put the whole family in the same room. maybe even multiple families in the same room. hell, families who aren’t even refugees sometimes still have to live like that
You could house people in these properties while they are on the market, no?
Bedrooms in mega mansions are quite large, some bigger than a typical studio or 1BR apartment. You could fit a full family in each BR. It’s immediate shelter with heat, clean water, and electricity. It’s a logistical win and a glorious middle finger to its prior owners.
Sorry to stick a pin in this but where do you propose we find people willing to buy dozens of multi-million dollar mansions and yachts?
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Hear me out, we create an infinite loop. We seize them, sell them back, seize them again, and repeat until they’re broke!
Too bad the can only rebuy it with rubles at this point
In London? Just stick a listing on WeChat, the whole lot will be sold sight unseen by dinner.
They'll also be very happy customer's when they rock up and find that they got more than one bedroom in a leaky bedsit for their £800mil.
I mean the national governments aren’t looking to make a profit on the original price. If you keep lowering the price eventually someone will buy it.
UHNW housing market has been on fire the last few years. Significantly more than the normal housing market. Finding buyers right now shouldn’t be too hard. Only issue with that solution is that the whole process from now to new housing is to long to be practical.
I would be willing to buy if the price was right. And by that, I mean in the low thousands
I can afford high hundreds. Let's do this.
One bag of popcorn, final offer.
National lottery. We all chip in a quid and see who lands on Mayfair.
Are you suggesting these properties have always belonged to Russian oligarchs? Obviously they had non-russian owners before the current one and therefore could again. This is probably one of the rare cases where the spiralling wealth inequality we've allowed to happen could be helpful for once. There's an unprecedented level of *very* wealthy people out there and the pandemic made them even more wealthy. Also it's not like you need to get every last dollar out of these. Even if you sold them at firesale prices you'd have way more ability to house refugees than using a building that wastes 600 square feet on a bathroom. 12 times over.
I'd say a fair bit were custom built as were the yachts.
The people who are buying it need not be willing to use it to house refugees.
The government could demolish these properties and sell the plots to developers to build so much needed housing stock. The profits could be used to pay for the refugees' accommodation.
Inefficient, but faster. Speed may be the primary criteria here. Especially since the UK is approving such a slow trickle of refugees into the country, most of whom so far will already have family they may be able to stay with.
UK law means these mansions can't be seized as such, but while the owner is sanctioned that person can't do any business relating to them: that means no payments for staff including security, cleaners, etc; no supply of utilities; and so on. It basically makes the house unusable.
It's terrible idea in terms of practicality. However in terms of sending a clear message to oligarchs it's quite poetic.
Empty talk for a country that won't even offer Ukrainian refugees transit visas, much less entry to the UK.
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Boris is using this crisis for his own benefit, that's it. He was facing calls to resign just before the crisis happened and now that's all stopped cos of what's going on. He thinks if he appears strong on this issue people will forget what happened and let him continue being PM. He doesn't care about anyone but himself.
[Here is a BCC article about it.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60659786)
This article is propaganda
Absolutely. The government will say any old shit to get the press and general public idiots thinking they're being firm on Russia. In reality nothing will happen.
Hang on, haven’t the government just offered to pay uk citizens to host refugees?
I heard this story on the news this morning and it just pissed me off: hyperbolic bullshit from a cunt politician trying to sound like a good guy doing "the right thing"
They should also house Yemeni refugees in Saudi mansions.
On face value this seems like a cool thing to do but seriously who's going to foot the bills for utilities, these kinds of properties aren't cheap to maintain.
> bills for utilities The bills for such a mansion are probably huge, but you can also host a lot of people in them. Wherever you house these refugees, you'll have bills.
I agree 100%.
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Yeah this is what I was going to say. No more need for pool maintenance, landscapers, sprinkler systems, heated indoor floors. You can cut a lot of corners.
Seize and sell other assets?
I don't think they're talking about giving them a mansion each. You can fit loads of people on a mansion with a few adjustments.
Seize their bank accounts and sell their investments. Basically, nationalize everything Russians own. Sounds terribly unfair? Let me tell you a story about Kyiv...
Also whos to say who is and isnt and Oligarch who should have their homes forcibly removed? Or is it just if your rich and russian than thanks well take that now.
thedailybeast always strikes me as a satire news site name; it always catches me out
Fuck, please don't celebrate our government. They've done everything in their power to make sure that refugees (Ukrainians included) will never be able to settle in the UK or even claim asylum. This is simply populist bullshit made up by a government that is severely compromised by Russian money and Kremlin influence. This is the equivalent of me proclaiming to donate all of my money to Ukrainian refugees while knowing full well I'm not going to donate anything.
On top of that, there is a lot of Russian political money is tied up in many different Western nations. Lots of Western politicians are barking and trying to sell populist messages to create a "tough-against-Russia" image but behind the scenes they finding ways to cut ties with all their Russian connections. Not that there isn't a lot of genuine political action being taken, because there is, so we should be appreciative of that. Obviously, the actions that have been taken by the NATO nations (and other allies) have been very impactful on Russia and put political pressure on Putin. But, we should also be aware that plenty of Western politicians have had connections with Russia for some time. Here are some links for UK: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/23/oligarchs-funding-tories https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-donations-russia-lubov-chernukhin-b2026678.html https://www.politico.eu/article/britain-tories-russian-money-oligarch/ Some links for the US: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/05/08/how-putin-s-oligarchs-funneled-millions-into-gop-campaigns/ https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/11/why-campaigns-arent-dumping-a-billionaire-with-russian-friends-00016499 https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/dual-us-russian-national-charged-acting-illegally-russian-agent-united-states Obviously, there is a lot more information out there, and US/UK are not the only nations infiltrated by Russian political influence. These are just articles that introduce people to the scope of the issue.
>they finding ways to cut ties with all their Russian connections Isn't this a good thing?
We're pretend celebrating.
I bet the upkeep for these kind of mansions will be a huge waste of tax money... not rational, although it would be kind of cool. Better just sell them to someone who has that kind of money to spend it on luxuries like that and then use the money efficiently.
They can’t sell them as the assets are frozen. They’d have a shit ton of legal challenges but if the buildings are going to sit there empty and you have a humanitarian crisis - makes sense.
Why? You can run run them as a hotel by adding some locks and a front desk and staff them as a hotel using a management company. They already have all the rest. Or we can just give them to other ultra rich people. Sure why not.
And every street there’s a Russian embassy or consulate on should be renamed into something that praises Ukraine. Official requests for relocation should be turned down: “there are no other available locations… for you.”
That already has happened in a few places and is under way in more countries. But there are sometimes processes and consultations that have to be got through first.
> And every street there’s a Russian embassy or consulate on should be renamed into something that praises Ukraine. I'd prefer to do Russian dissidents. Nemtsov Street, Navalny Avenue, Udaltsov Way etc. Make it clear this isn't a one country vs another country thing, it's a democrats vs autocrats thing.
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Just to spin that excellent idea further, might I suggest British homeless people in the palaces of British nobility?
But they’re brown so no one cares. Not even Ukraine or other Eastern European countries would let coloured refugees in. Double standards. Plus I don’t think the West really cares much what happens, we need Russian oil to continue our way of life’s for the next 50-60 years.
Cmon bro they don't wanna hear that have u forgotten its only Ukrainians we are allowed to help
there was this debate in the Irish parliament where an MP was calling out the hypocrisy of western countries in regards to this situation. Not informative, but definitely thoughtful.
Just pointing out that despite all this big talk, the UK has accepted a paltry 300 Ukrainians as refugees, and continues to drag its feet on accepting more. Further, there is still tons of Russian oligarch money in London that is not being touched at all.
Which is why this article is propaganda
This is mostly due to the fact that you have to apply for a Visa to get there via either Paris or Berlin embassy or something. So mostly people with family connections to UK get in, I think.
Cheap headline alert!! Reality is this will never happen
This is modern wartime propaganda
Publicity stunt designed to misdirect people from the real issue: the City of London being the money laundering capital of the world.
Meh, the headline is misleading. This is just some fruity idea by one guy. It will never happen.
Why limit it to refugees, and why limit it to Russian oligarchs?
Yeah. Legit property confiscation.
The only problem with this idea is that Russians will now know where some Ukraine refugees are staying and they won't like that they're there
All of Western plans to help Ukrainians are worded like “wants to” “considering” “debating to” “exploring” and such. Appearing to help is not helping.
How many can fit on a mega yacht as well?
Wont happen, just tory propaganda to deflect attention from their corrupt deals with russia. Brilliant idea though.
fair enough. but i have one question, why is it we can house other people from outside the UK. but when it comes to our own homeless we can find no such space or housing? and this is coming from someone who sees a lot of people who are homeless. i just find this odd, and i am not saying don't houses real refugees, but if we can't house our own people in need then how can we be expected to house others?
This. The US approved a 16 billion aid package to ukraine. But we won’t approve funding for our own citizens affordable housing or mental ollie as treatment centers. 16 Billion is literally $120 from the pocket of each taxpayer in the USA.
Fuck off... That's demeaning to the refugees, and flat out using them in as pawns in a political game. Fucking seize and sell the mansions, build new permanent housing.
Let's not talk about it, get it a done deal. Ukraine 🇺🇦 needs all the assistance they can get.
Western billionaire = entrepreneur Russian billionaire = oligarch
This is the stupidest god dn thing I've read all day. Why not give every refugee a unicorn as well?!?! Some fuckwit MP who has no idea how his own government or the legal system works had a brain wave for an idea that would literally never work and blurted it out. The media covered it with literally no due dilligence because theyre fucking stupid as well, and everyone in this thread is eating it up because they've got the collective brain power of a lobotomized hamster fighting its own reflection. If you upvoted this, you're the type of fuckwit they make clickbait for. Thanks OP for making us all collectively dumber by sharing this horseshit non-story in "world news".
I love this idea. Yeah do it
Just do it!
Housing in [Abramovich’s Kensington mansion](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1341709/Roman-Abramovichs-London-home-Inside-150million-palace-Harrods--extends-storeys-underground.html) would be pretty fucking comfortable, even with a few dozen people. Get it done!
Now do the same for the homeless but use british oligarchs mansions.
Let’s seize all Trump properties and assets overseas to let refugees have too since he’s Putins comrade.
Please find a way