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Washington, D.C.-based attorney Gary Silversmith wants a judge to block an attempt to take possession of his yacht and to allow his company to strike a deal with a different lender.Â
Get off my yacht!
A Washington, D.C., lawyer is trying to fend off a "dastardly plan" to take control his former presidential yacht.Â
The USS Sequoia , the official presidential yacht from the 1930s to the 1970s, when it was ordered to be sold by President Jimmy Carter, was bought by investor and lawyer Gary Silversmith in 2000.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Silversmith says he started having problems paying the Sequoia's bills in the early part of last year "due to the poor economy coupled with the high cost of maintaining a wooden-hulled 1925 yacht."
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Gary Silversmith aboard the USS Sequoia. President Jimmy Carter ordered the yacht sold in the 1970s.Â
For help, he says, his company, Sequoia LLC, turned to FE Partners , a company run by a wealthy and powerful Indian family.Â
The company agreed to loan Sequoia $ 5 million but only ponied up half that amount, leaving Sequoia struggling to pay its bills, the suit says.Â
The filing says the move was intentional and engineered so FE Partners could "wrest control" of the yacht from Sequoia. Â Shorting Sequoia left the company with trouble paying its bills, the suit says, and FE Partners moved for a default on the loan so it could buy the yacht from Silversmith at a "miserly" price.Â
Silversmith wants a judge to block the move and allow Sequoia to strike a deal with a new lender.Â
A lawyer for FE Partners did not return a call for comment.
A hearing's been scheduled on the case for Jan. 17.Â
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