The yacht business is filled with tax-loopholes and dodges. Italian tax authorities say Flavio Briatore is caught up in one of them.

And so they seized one of Europe's best known yachts for unpaid taxes. Armed Italian police boarded the 207-foot Force Blue near Genoa and impounded the boat, claiming the owner, Flavio Briatore, owes millions of dollars in unpaid taxes. Mr. Briatore's wife, a Wonderbra model, was on board when the police arrived.