Federal prosecutors want to seize and sell a $300 million superyacht, arguing the boat belongs to a Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin, court records show.
The 348-foot Amadea yacht — seized in Fiji last year as Washington heightened sanctions against Russia amid its war with Ukraine — is the subject of a legal complaint filed Monday in a New York federal court.
The U.S. hopes to auction the yacht and send the proceeds to Ukraine, according to a Reuters report.
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Owner Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire who Forbes reports bets on Russian gold, has twice been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in the past 10 years.
New York prosecutors contend Kerimov violated those sanctions when he bought the superyacht in 2021 and sunk $1 million worth of renovations into it, court records show.
While lawyers testified last year the boat belonged to Eduard Khudainatov, a Russian oligarch who had not been sanctioned, prosecutors contend Kerimov relied on newly incorporated companies to conceal his post at the helm.
“Ownership of the Amadea was then transferred to Errigal Marine Limited, another newly incorporated company, which was used to obscure Kerimov’s beneficial ownership of the Amadea,” a press release states.
Khudainatov’s attorney told Reuters his client challenged the ship’s seizure in a separate suit filed Monday, but Reuters could not find the filings online.
