The United States secured a victory in its campaign to punish Russian billionaires for the war in Ukraine when Fiji’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a $300 million yacht owned by a pro-Kremlin oligarch could be seized by American authorities.
Fiji court lets U.S. seize Russian oligarch’s $300 million superyacht
The court’s ruling lifted a stay order that had blocked the United States from seizing the yacht.
Amadea’s owner is Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov, U.S. officials say. The seizure comes about a month after the Justice Department asked Fijian officials for permission to take the yacht after the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Kerimov as part of a group of oligarchs who it says profited from the Russian government through corruption and suspect activity, including the occupation of Crimea. The Treasury Department also said Kerimov was an official of the Russian government and a member of Russia’s upper chamber of parliament.
Fijian authorities seized the ship with assistance from the FBI, executing a U.S. warrant that was approved by Fijian judges. The paper owner of the ship, Millemarin Investments, appealed the seizure in Fijian courts, bringing the case to Fiji’s Supreme Court last week.
But Fijian justices ruled in favor of U.S. authorities. The Amadea “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States,” the justices wrote in their ruling. The yacht “has no interest in Fiji” and “should sail out of Fiji waters,” they said.
Kerimov and his family have a net worth of $9.8 billion, according to E.U. officials. He has received large sums of money from Sergei Roldugin, a caretaker of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s offshore wealth, E.U. officials say. He was one of the oligarchs invited to a meeting at the Kremlin on Feb. 24, the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to discuss the war and Western sanctions.
Kerimov has made a career out of investing in distressed companies in Russia, according to Forbes. He lost billions in the 2008 financial crisis but recovered by investing in Polyus, a Russian gold producer.
The Amadea is among multiple yachts that the U.S. Treasury Department has targeted. In the early days of the invasion, President Biden warned Russian oligarchs: “We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”
Since then, governments around the world have seized Russian oligarchs’ assets.
In March, Spanish authorities impounded several superyachts — the Crescent in Tarragona, the Valerie in Barcelona and the Lady Anastasia in Majorca’s Port Adriano.
In April, Germany’s federal police said they had impounded the Dilbar, owned by Gulbakhor Ismailova, the sister of Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov. The same month, U.S. authorities seized a 255-foot yacht in Spain owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, the $90 million Tango.
In May, Italian financial authorities said they had impounded a $700 million yacht linked in media reports and by anti-Kremlin groups to Putin, but did not say who the owner might be.
This month, U.S. authorities identified the $65 million Sea Rhapsody, a ship with ties to Andrei Kostin, the top executive of a Russian bank, and the $156 million Madame Gu, which has ties to Andrei Skoch, a Russian politician, as luxury assets with ties to Putin’s allies, but they have yet to announce any seizures.
Source: WP
