220-foot yacht owned by Charles Cohen's family detained in Italy

Charles Cohen’s yachting adventures have caught a headwind.

An Italian court has issued the temporary seizure of a 220-foot megayacht owned by Cohen’s wife Clo in the port of Loana as Fortress Investment Group seeks to collect on its $187 million court judgment against Cohen, according to sources familiar with the matter. (The boat was transferred from a Cohen-owned LLC to an entity in which his wife is the beneficial owner last year.)

The Seasense superyacht, valued at $48 million, is moored in Italy. It cannot leave without approval from the court.

The order marks a new escalation in Fortress’s cutthroat legal saga with Cohen, the New York City-based real estate developer.

Cohen defaulted on a $534 million loan from Fortress backed by a number of his properties, including movie theaters, a Design Center in Dania Beach, Florida and a Westchester development site. Fortress took control of the properties in a foreclosure auction in late 2024.

But Cohen was also held liable by the New York Supreme Court for a $187 million guarantee he provided to Fortress.

So far, Cohen has not paid his $187 million judgment, forcing the investment giant to go after Cohen’s personal assets, including his megayacht. The company has also claimed Cohen shuffled around his assets to shield them from his lender. He put his $20 million Greenwich mansion into a trust in his wife Clo’s name, Fortress alleged, and transferred ownership of four luxury boats valued at $50 million.

Cohen and his wife commissioned the nautical marvel as a custom build — and he has publicly bragged about it many times to the yachting community.

“I had the same thing when we built our house,” Cohen told Super Yacht Times in 2017. “I just can’t wear someone else’s shoes.”

They spared no expense, adding a gym, four decks, a built-in pizza oven, an elevator and a 10-meter pool.

“When we had the other boat, and when people are on boats or cruise ships, there’s a point when you want to get off the boat, when you want to go to a beach, or you want to go to a swimming pool,” Cohen told Boat International in 2018. “And we felt that why, after investing this kind of time and money, should we feel like a poor relation and not be able to enjoy swimming on our own boat?”

Cohen envisioned using it to travel the French and Italian Rivieras as well as to explore Croatia and Greece, according to Boat International.

But for now, the yacht will be held in an Italian port unless Cohen is able to pay off his debt to Fortress.

Cohen’s lawyers argued the developer has tried to sell real estate in order to satisfy the judgment. This includes his properties at 3 East 54th Street and 623 Fifth Avenue.

Fortress argues that Cohen has not made serious offers to sell these properties.

“Cohen has provided no update to Fortress on the progress of those purported sales,” Fortress’ attorney said in a court filing.

The firm is seeking to appoint a receiver to take over Cohen’s properties. The New York Supreme Court judge Joel Cohen held off on appointing a receiver at a recent hearing, giving Cohen more time to pay his debt.

Cohen’s attorney did not return a request for comment. Fortress declined to comment.

The story has been updated to reflect that Cohen’s wife owns the yacht, not Cohen himself.