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From tradewinds: A Greek shipping magnate who bought Aristotle Onassis’s legendary yacht Christina O on behalf of Irish investors could have his Irish assets seized. John Paul Papanicolaou, a friend of the Onassis family who was a guest on the vessel as a child, was successfully pursued through the Greek courts by the former owner of the boat. The action was moved into the Irish courts last week, the Sunday Business Post reported. Peter Tauck, an international tour operator, sold the 324-foot yacht to Papanicolaou and his team of Irish investors, including truck dealer Robert Harris, for EUR 3m ($3.81m) in 1998. The investors have since spent EUR 50m refurbishing the boat at Croatia’s Viktor Lenac yard. Tauck took the case against Papanicolaou after he failed to settle a multimillion euro debt and secured an ‘‘arrest and seize’’ order against Papanicolaou’s assets. Tauck is now attempting to seize significant cash reserves held by Papanicolaou in Ireland. Papanicolaou has a stake in the Christina O through an offshore company in the Cook Islands, an offshore Pacific tax haven. It was known as simply Christina during Onassis’s lifetime, after his daughter. It is not clear how the new court action affects ownership of the yacht, although legal sources said the matter was likely to be addressed by the Irish High Court. Harris recently put the boat on the market with a price tag of about EUR 60m. The Christina began life in 1943 as the Canadian naval frigate Stormont. Onassis bought it in 1948 for $34,000 and converted it during the early 1950’s into the most sumptuous private yacht that the world had ever seen, at the cost of more than $4m. At the time of Onassis’ death in 1975, the ship was turned over to his daughter and only heir, Christina. She donated the vessel to the Greek government for use as the presidential yacht in 1978. Sadly, the Argo (as the Greek government renamed her) was little used and eventually fell into disrepair, until the new owners stepped in. By Gary Dixon in London ___________________________________________________- (1943, ex-HMCS Stormont, Christina)
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