Confiscated luxury cars yield CHF27 million at Geneva auction
A collection of 25 luxury cars seized from Equatorial Guinea's vice president as part of a Swiss money-laundering probe were sold at an auction house for CHF27 million ($27.2 million) on Sunday.
Seven Ferraris, three Lamborghinis, five Bentleys, a Maserati and a McLaren were among the vehicles up for grabs. The most expensive sales included a white-and-cream 2014 Lamborghini Veneno roadster that went for CHF8.28 million and a 2015 Koenigsegg One:1 that fetched CHF4.6 million.
BonhamsExternal link had initially predicted that the collection would fetch a total of CHF18.5 million.
The cars were seized in 2016 as part of a probe related to money laundering on the part of Teodorin Obiang, the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, plus two others accused of mismanaging public assets. In February of this year, the Geneva authorities announced that they had closed the case.
The proceeds of the auction will benefit a charity in Equatorial Guinea. For its part, the country has agreed to pay Geneva CHF1.3 million to cover the costs of the legal proceedings.
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