Hypercars seized from politician net $35.9 million at auction
Not all politicians find themselves busy moving the levers of power and arguing with the opposition party. Some, like the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea, spend their time collecting a fleet of hypercars.
Trouble is, at least in this instance, they were all confiscated by Swiss authorities three years ago after a money-laundering investigation. And now London-based Bonhams sold them all at auction.
On the block were some of the rarest pieces of automotive metal. An extraordinary convertible version of the already rare Lamborghini Veneno, in white-on-tan Dubai spec, sold for $11,049,911, including buyer’s premium.
Interested in a one-of-six Koenigsegg One:1 with only 597 kilometres on the clock? You would have had to bring $6,138,839 to walk away with the example at this auction. A 2011 Aston Martin One-77, number 35 of 77 built, went under the hammer for just over $2 million.
The list goes on, reading like a who’s who of exotic machinery.
A Ferrari Enzo, the sheep’shead-ugly super car from 2003, sold for $4,143,716. If it was a yellow Ferrari the buyer wanted, they should have held out for the 2015 LaFerrari that sold for a hair under $3 million.
Police in Geneva seized the fleet from an airport cargo area in 2016 after criminal proceedings were opened against Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the central African nation’s leader. Earlier this year, Swiss prosecutors said they closed a money-laundering investigation against Obiang, citing an arrangement to fund programs in Equatorial Guinea with proceeds from the sale of these cars.