Lucky Me (yacht)
Lucky Me is a 46 meter luxury yacht, built in 2016.[1] She was built by Baglietto S.p.A. and her gross tonnage is 438 tonnes. Her top speed is 26 knots. She can accommodate eleven guests.
As of 2024 she is for sale with an asking price of 19 million euros.[1]
The Lucky Me, and another yacht, My Legacy, became the focus of controversy in December 2023, when the U.S. Congress was debating whether to continue giving financial aid to Ukraine to continue its resistance to its Russian invaders.[2] A website called D.C. Weekly, started by an American expatriate named John Mark Dougan, made the false claim that that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used $75 million in US aid money to purchase the two yachts. Other commentators pointed out that yachts had not been sold, and were still listed as for sale.[3]
Congressional Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Tom Tillis took the false claims at face value, and repeated them, during the Congressional debate, citing the false claims that US funding was being mis-used to justify cutting off that aid.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Lucky Me Yacht Overview: About Lucky Me Yacht". Super Yacht Times. https://www.superyachttimes.com/yachts/lucky-me-46m. Retrieved 2024-02-12. "Up to 11 guests can be accommodated on board the superyacht, Lucky Me, and she also has accommodation for 9 crew members, including the ship's captain."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Olga Robinson, Shayan Sardarizadeh, Mike Wendling (2023-12-20). "How pro-Russian 'yacht' propaganda influenced US debate over Ukraine aid". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2024-02-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20240206133041/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67766964. Retrieved 2024-02-12. "Research by Darren Linvill and Patrick Warren, disinformation researchers at Clemson University, shows that DC Weekly was started by John Mark Dougan, a former US Marine and Florida police officer who moved to Russia in 2016."
- ↑ Melissa Goldin (2023-12-04). "Ukraine’s Zelenskyy did not purchase two luxury yachts in October. They’re still up for sale". Associated Press News. Archived from the original on 2023-12-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20231204193309/https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-zelenskyy-luxury-yachts-75-million-067680385163. Retrieved 2024-02-12. "BehneMar, another luxury yacht company, similarly called claims about its listing for Lucky Me “totally wrong and false,” writing in a statement that it “can confirm that the yacht has not been sold and is still for sale with BehneMar as the exclusive listing company.”"
