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$300 Million Yacht of Sanctioned Russian Oligarch Suleiman Kerimov Seized by Fiji at Request of United States

Fijian law enforcement executed a seizure warrant freezing the Motor Yacht Amadea (the Amadea), a 348-foot luxury vessel owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. Fijian law enforcement, with the support and assistance of the FBI, acted pursuant to a mutual legal assistance request from the U.S. Department of Justice following issuance of a seizure warrant from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which found that the Amadea is subject to forfeiture based on probable cause of violations of U.S. law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), money laundering and conspiracy.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe, including the occupation of Crimea. In sanctioning Kerimov, the Treasury Department also cited Kerimov as an official of the Government of the Russian Federation and a member of the Russian Federation Counsel.

According to court documents, Kerimov owned the Amadea after his designation. Additionally, Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused U.S. dollar transactions to be routed through U.S. financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea.

“This ruling should make clear that there is no hiding place for the assets of individuals who violate U.S. laws. And there is no hiding place for the assets of criminals who enable the Russian regime,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine.”

“Last month, I warned that the department had its eyes on every yacht purchased with dirty money,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide – not even in the remotest part of the world. We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine.”

“This seizure demonstrates the FBI's persistence in pursuing sanctioned Russian oligarchs attempting to evade accountability for their role in jeopardizing our national security,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI, along with our international partners, will continue to seek out those individuals who contribute to the advancement of Russia’s malign activities and ensure they are brought to justice, regardless of where, or how, they attempt to hide.”

“This seizure of Suleiman Kerimov’s vessel, the Amadea, nearly 8,000 miles from Washington, D.C., symbolizes the reach of the Department of Justice as we continue to work with our global partners to disrupt the sense of impunity of those who have supported corruption and the suffering of so many,” said Director Andrew Adams of Task Force KleptoCapture. “This Task Force will continue to bring to bear every resource available in this unprecedented, multinational series of enforcement actions against the Russian regime and its enablers.”

“The U.S. Marshals Service will continue to contribute our expertise in support of Task Force efforts to take possession of seized assets of Russian oligarchs during these forfeiture operations,” said Director Ronald L. Davis of the U.S. Marshals Service. 

The seizure was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2 and run out of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the department’s tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

Upon receipt of a mutual legal assistance request from the United States, Fijian authorities executed the request, obtaining a domestic seizure warrant from a Fijian court.

The Amadea, International Maritime Organization number 1012531, is believed to be worth approximately $300 million or more. The yacht is now in Lautoka, Fiji.

This matter is being investigated by the FBI’s New York Field Office with assistance from the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Canberra, Australia, the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, and the U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji.

Trial Attorney Andrew D. Beaty of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Trial Attorney Joshua L. Sohn of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are handling the seizure. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Marshals Service provided significant assistance. The United States thanks the Fijian authorities for their cooperation in this matter.

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The FBI found crucial evidence aboard a $325 million superyacht seized in Fiji, which incriminated its oligarch owner Suleiman Kerimov, a report says

• The FBI has reportedly found evidence implicating Suleiman Kerimov in US crimes. 
• Authorities found documents when boarding the superyacht on Thursday, per Australia's ABC News.
• The Amadea was seized on Thursday by Fijian law enforcement at the request of US authorities.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation found evidence incriminating the owner of a superyacht that was seized by Fijian authorities on Thursday, reports say.

Australia's ABC News first reported the story. 

The US requested the seizure of Suleiman Kerimov's $325 million superyacht, which the FBI and Fijian law enforcement worked together to achieve.

According to a statement from the Department of Justice, the seizure warrant was issued amid evidence the vessel,  known as the "Amadea," was subject to forfeiture based on "probable cause" of violations of US law, money laundering, and conspiracy. 

The DOJ reported that court documents showed Kerimov owned the vessel after his designation as a Russian government official.

The 350-foot superyacht was previously reported to be heading for the Fijian port of Nadi but is now located in Lautoka, Fiji. Its owner, Kerimov, is thought to be Russia's ninth-richest person with a fortune of around $14.5 billion, according to Forbes . He has been sanctioned by the US, EU, and the UK over alleged money laundering and his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Related stories

Kerimov is among individuals who have been sanctioned for being part of Vladimir Putin's close circles. The oligarchs have been scrutinized by the West and their assets have been seized, frozen, or detained. 

The US Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday that according to court documents, Kerimov and those who acted on his behalf "caused US dollar transactions to be routed through US financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea." 

Insider previously reported that the maintenance cost of a superyacht can be up to 15% of its value. Vessels that are not properly maintained c ould cause environmental issues . 

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the statement: "This ruling should make clear that there is no hiding place for the assets of individuals who violate US laws. And there is no hiding place for the assets of criminals who enable the Russian regime."

He added: "The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine."

Western sanctions have prompted the seizure of superyachts, mansions, and private jets linked to some of Russia's richest people. Some have attempted to evade sanctions by moving their assets to friendly jurisdictions.

Deputy attorney general Lisa O. Monaco said: "This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide – not even in the remotest part of the world. We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia's unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine."

Watch: Videos show dead bodies and a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine

• Main content

Watch CBS News

Court in Fiji approves U.S. warrant to seize Russian-owned mega-yacht

By Graham Kates

May 3, 2022 / 9:32 AM EDT / CBS News

Fiji's High Court on Tuesday ruled that a massive Russian-owned yacht can be seized by U.S. authorities.

American and Fijian officials claim the Cayman Islands-flagged Amadea is the property of Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch who built his fortune on gold mining. Kerimov was sanctioned in March by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine . 

But an attorney who represents Millemarin Investments, the company the $325 million ship is registered to, said it's not owned by Kerimov. Instead, he argued in court that corporate paperwork traces the ship's ownership to Eduard Khudainatov, a former executive at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil company who has not been sanctioned. 

Kerimov and Khudainatov could not be reached for comment. The company intends to appeal Tuesday's decision.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, according to local reports and the maritime analytics website Marine Traffic. Soon after, a federal judge approved a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's top prosecutor moved to prevent the ship from leaving.

• Russian oligarchs moving yachts as U.S. tracks down assets

The Department of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment. 

On April 4, the agency announced that Spanish authorities had assisted it in seizing another Russian yacht, the $90 million Tango, which was owned by Viktor Vekselberg, the owner of the Russian conglomerate Renova Group.

Legislation passed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would allow the U.S. to sell the yacht and other properties worth more than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs in order to fund the Ukrainian war effort. President Joe Biden supports the bill, which has yet to pass the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and other ill-begotten gains," Biden said on April 28 at the White House.

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]

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Seized yacht of russian oligarch suleiman kerimov arrives in us.

A massive $325 million superyacht owned by a Russian oligarch — and seized on behalf of the United States last month — has made its way across the Pacific and into American custody.

“After a transpacific journey of over 5,000 miles, the Amadea has safely docked in a port within the United States, and will remain in the custody of the U.S. government, pending its anticipated forfeiture and sale,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

The Amadea, a 384 foot behemoth topped with four massive radar domes came into San Diego Bay Monday flying the American flag.

According to the DOJ, prior to its seizure the ship was owned by Suleiman Kerimov, an alleged money launderer sanctioned by the US in 2018 over the Russian annexation of Crimea.

The ship was seized last month by Task Force KleptoCapture , a DOJ team launched in March to seize the assets of Kremlin allies and Russian elites in an effort to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

A legal battle ensued, however, as an attorney for the company that owns the vessel — Millemarin Investments — argued that the Amadea was actually the property of a different wealthy Russian, one who was not under US sanction .

US officials argued in Fijian court that that Russian, Eduard Khudainatov, was merely the owner on paper — and that he is similarly the “paper owner” of a yacht believed to truly belong to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US questioned how Khudainatov could afford some $1 billion in boats.

“The fact that Khudainatov is being held out as the owner of two of the largest superyachts on record, both linked to sanctioned individuals, suggests that Khudainatov is being used as a clean, unsanctioned straw owner to conceal the true beneficial owners,” the FBI wrote in a court affidavit.

Ultimately, the Fijian court ruled in the DOJ’s favor. The Amadea made one stop in Honolulu, according to American authorities, before sailing for San Diego.

With Post wires

U.S. trying to seize $325 million superyacht reportedly owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov

The U.S. government is attempting to seize a superyacht docked in Fiji that is widely believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, according to a restraining order application filed by Fijian authorities.

The Amadea yacht is “restrained from leaving Fijian waters” until U.S. authorities finalize their warrant to seize the ship, Fiji’s public prosecutor, Christopher Pryde, said in a statement.

The move comes as Western countries have ramped up efforts to seize and freeze assets around the world owned by sanctioned Russian individuals with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kerimov has been sanctioned in the U.S. since 2018. 

Last week, NBC News confirmed that the billionaire’s reported luxury vessel had arrived in Fiji, as part of a wider investigation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists into how Kerimov and his associates used a maze of corporate structures to obscure his astronomical wealth. 

The roughly $325 million yacht arrived in Fiji’s Lautoka port from Mexico last week, according to MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics company. Ship registration filings show that Amadea is flagged to the Cayman Islands. 

The U.S. Embassy said it was cooperating with local authorities.

“We continue to ratchet up the pressure on Putin’s oligarchs and we are working with allies and partners to go after corrupt gains from some of the individuals closest to Putin, no matter where they are held around the world,” the embassy said in a statement to the journalists consortium.

A State Department spokesperson said: "We are working closely with governments and private sector partners in Europe, and the entire world, including Fiji, on this issue."

A yacht agent in Fiji who said he was a representative for Amadea told Reuters last week that the ship’s lawyers were contesting the assertion that Kerimov owns the vessel. 

A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment. 

NBC News’ investigation reviewed major financial record leaks — including the Pandora Papers and the FinCEN Files — to illustrate the difficulties Western governments will face in enforcing sanctions against Russian oligarchs like Kerimov. 

While rich people around the world use creative tactics to protect their wealth, the documents revealed the exceptional steps Kerimov and his associates have taken in the past and highlight the challenges ahead for authorities seeking to stem the flow of money to Putin’s inner circle. 

Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, Kerimov has been hit with additional sanctions by Canada, the U.K. and the European Union. But so far his assets have apparently escaped unscathed.

Yasmine Salam is an associate producer with the NBC News Investigative Unit. Previously she worked in the London Bureau, covering international stories.

Kenzi Abou-Sabe is a reporter and producer in the NBC News Investigative Unit.

clock This article was published more than  2 years ago

Russian oligarch’s $300 million yacht seized by Fiji on behalf of U.S.

The $300 million superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov was seized Thursday by Fijian authorities on behalf of the United States as part of the ongoing efforts to sanction and punish Russia’s elite in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

On Friday, Italian financial authorities said they have frozen a $700 million megayacht that has been linked in media reports and by anti-Kremlin groups to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Justice Department announced that Fiji executed a seizure warrant on the Amadea, a 348-foot-long luxury vessel that authorities say was “subject to forfeiture based on probable cause of violations of U.S. law.” Kerimov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals, who built his fortune in gold mining and is a political ally of Putin, has been identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as an official of the government of the Russian Federation and a member of the Russian Federation Council.

Amadea was owned by Kerimov at the time of his sanctioning by the United States, Britain and the European Union in early March, authorities say in the seizure warrant , and U.S. financial transactions were routed through U.S. banking institutions by him and associates of his for maintenance of the vessel. Kerimov is among the Russian oligarchs who have been sanctioned during Russia’s war in Ukraine for profiting “from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe,” according to the Justice Department.

“Last month, I warned that the department had its eyes on every yacht purchased with dirty money,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco wrote in a statement. “This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide, not even in the remotest part of the world. We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland echoed Monaco’s sentiments on Russian oligarchs, saying, “There is no hiding place for the assets of individuals who violate U.S. laws.”

“And there is no hiding place for the assets of criminals who enable the Russian regime,” he said in a statement.

Nikita Sichov, a lawyer in Cannes, France, whose firm represents Kerimov, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Feizal Haniff, a lawyer representing Millemarin Investments, the company to which the luxury ship is registered, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Haniff has argued in court in Fiji that Amadea’s owner is not Kerimov but Eduard Khudainatov, a former executive at Rosneft, Russia’s state-owned oil company, who is not under sanction, according to CBS News .

Putin allies have tried to find safe waters for their superyachts during the war. In March, the French Finance Ministry announced it had seized the Amore Vero, the $120 million, 281-foot-long superyacht owned by the Russian oligarch Igor Sechin. Other yachts owned by Russian oligarchs have been docked around the world, and some have been on the move to avoid being detained or seized.

In announcing the freeze of the yacht, known as the Scheherazade, on Friday, Italy’s finance ministry said the vessel’s owner had “prominent” links with Russians already under European Union sanctions. The name of the owner was not specified, and Italy only said its government had asked the E.U. to add the person to its sanctions list.

The move comes after Italian investigators had raced to investigate the vessel and prevent it from leaving the Tuscan port of Marina di Carrara, where the yacht had been undergoing repairs since before the war.

In March, an investigation by the Italian daily La Stampa named the boat’s owner as Khudainatov. But the newspaper also raised a question about how somebody not listed as a billionaire could afford to purchase one of the world’s most luxurious yachts.

Investigators working for jailed Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny say the yacht’s owner is Putin himself. In March, Navalny’s team published what it said was the crew list of people who had worked on the yacht. They purportedly include members of the Russian state agency responsible for Putin’s personal protection.

Italy had earlier frozen a $560 million megayacht connected to Andrey Melnichenko, a coal and fertilizer tycoon who is one of Russia’s 10 richest people. Italy has also frozen villas that oligarchs use as summer getaways.

As part of a $33 billion spending package unveiled last week that would provide military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine, President Biden proposed liquidating the seized assets of Russian oligarchs and donating the proceeds to Ukraine. The president’s proposal would require broad new legal powers, but Biden suggested that he saw a powerful symbolism in the move.

“We’re going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and other ill-begotten gains,” he said.

Biden seeks a dramatic increase in aid for Ukraine

The White House did not release details of the proposal but noted that it would improve the government’s ability to send seized funds to Ukraine. Under current law, the United States typically can only freeze — not seize or liquidate — the assets of sanctioned individuals. Russian officials have vowed to retaliate against the White House move and have urged the affected oligarchs to take legal action.

Considerable hurdles remain for the United States in effecting sanctions on Russian oligarchs . Gaping holes in wire transactions — which now reside in a database maintained by the Treasury Department — underscore how difficult it is to locate, let alone freeze, Russian-connected assets that have been moved into offshore accounts over the past decade.

Pandora Papers: U.S. Hunt for Russian oligarchs' huge fortunes faces barriers offshore

Kerimov, 56, was listed by Forbes as Russia’s richest man two years ago, but his fortune has shrunk since then. Nevertheless, it remains considerable at about $13 billion, according to Forbes.

Amadea, which was built in 2016 by the German shipyard Lürssen, can accommodate 18 guests and 36 crew members, and its amenities include a large swimming pool, a Jacuzzi, a helicopter landing platform and a winter garden on the sun deck, according to Superyacht Fan , a website tracking luxury yachts.

Kerimov was first put under sanctions by the United States in 2018. Britain and the E.U. followed suit last month as part of a global crackdown in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The seizure of the superyacht was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, which is dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures imposed by the United States and its allies, authorities say. Sometime after the yacht docked in Lautoka, Fiji, in April, local authorities, with a “mutual legal assistance request from the United States,” obtained a domestic seizure warrant from the Fijian court, according to the Justice Department.

Andrew Adams, the director of Task Force KleptoCapture, celebrated what he described as an “unprecedented, multinational series of enforcement actions against the Russian regime and its enablers.”

“This seizure of Suleiman Kerimov’s vessel, the Amadea, nearly 8,000 miles from Washington, D.C., symbolizes the reach of the Department of Justice as we continue to work with our global partners to disrupt the sense of impunity of those who have supported corruption and the suffering of so many,” Adams said in a statement.

Greg Miller, Bryan Pietsch, Missy Ryan, Jeff Stein, Matt Viser, Chico Harlan and Spencer Woodman contributed to this report.

‘Alleged’ Fabergé Egg Found Aboard a Seized Russian Oligarch’s Yacht

The rare egg may not be authentic—but if it is, it could be worth millions

Daily Correspondent

When United States authorities seized a Russian oligarch’s  $300 million superyacht , they were surprised to discover what looked like a rare  Fabergé egg on board.

Lisa Monaco , the U.S. deputy attorney general, revealed the discovery while discussing sanctions against Russia at the  Aspen Security Forum last week.

“Let’s get to the juicy stuff: the yachts,” she said, per the  Guardian ’s Samantha Lock. “We recovered a Fabergé—or alleged Fabergé egg—on one of these [yachts], so it just gets more and more interesting.”

The yacht had recently sailed from Fiji and was docked in San Diego, Monaco added. She didn’t extrapolate much beyond that, but reporters did their own digging and believe she’s referring to the Amadea , which arrived in California in June after some  legal back and forth .

The  U.S. government says that Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch in the gold business who is facing sanctions for his ties to Russian President  Vladimir Putin , owns the lavish, 348-foot-long vessel. The U.S. and other Western nations are  levying sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs in an attempt to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine .

It’s not clear yet if the Fabergé egg is authentic; but if it is, it could be worth millions. Created by jeweler  Peter Carl Fabergé between 1885 and 1917 in Russia, Fabergé eggs are opulently decorated, jewel-encrusted objets d’art . Historians believe  Alexander III commissioned the first elaborate egg as a gift for his wife in 1885—and the eggs quickly caught on with other members of the Russian royal family.

Historians believe  Fabergé made up to 69 eggs, a number that includes 50 “Imperial eggs” made for Russian royalty. Today, just 43 of the Imperial eggs are accounted for. And even though the location of a handful remains unknown, the likelihood that the newly discovered egg is real is “pretty small,” as Tony Faber, author of Fabergé’s Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire , tells  CNN ’s Kaitlan Collins.

“We’re down to the seven missing ones that have been basically missing since the [Russian] revolution,” he says.

The last time an Imperial egg randomly turned up was  in 2014 , when a man bought a gold egg for $14,000. He’d planned to melt it down for scrap metal, but first he decided to take it  to an expert , who identified it as a Fabergé egg worth an  estimated $33 million —and, fortunately, prevented its destruction.

In 2007, a Fabergé egg made headlines when it auctioned off for a record  $18.5 million .

U.S. officials have not yet released a photo of the egg, which has only added to the growing intrigue around the object. And there’s a good chance that Fabergé fans will be disappointed when the government finally does offer up visuals or more information about their find. As Nick Nicholson, a Russian art specialist, tells the  Art Newspaper ’s Sophia Kishkovsky, the piece may actually just be “a pendant egg worth a few thousand or an egg-shaped object like a bonbonniere or box.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.