Cars taken from African leader’s sold for $27 million at auction

GENEVA (AP) — Car lovers from around the world splashed out more than $27 million at an auction Sunday for dozens of luxury cars seized from the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president in a Swiss money-laundering probe.

The 25 lots sold by auction house Bonhams included a white-and-cream 2014 Lamborghini Veneno roadster that cost the buyer 8.28 million Swiss francs ($8.4 million), comprising a 15% premium for the auction house but with potential taxes still to be added.

The supercar — one of only nine such versions produced — had been driven only 325 kilometers (201 miles) and has an official top speed of 359 kilometers per hour (223 mph), Bonhams said.

Total proceeds from the sale beat the 18.5 million francs ($18.7 million) that authorities had hoped to fetch for a charity to benefit the people of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.