The US government said it is spending more than $7 million a year maintaining the sanctioned confiscated superyacht of Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, and urged a judge to allow the vessel to be auctioned before the ownership dispute is resolved.
Source: Reuters
Details: Attempts to put the yacht up for auction are being challenged by the Russian oligarch Eduard Khudainatov, who headed the Rosneft company from 2010 to 2013.
Khudainatov claims ownership of the Amadea yacht and said that it cannot but be confiscated since no sanctions have been applied to him.
Fiji authorities seized the 106-metre yacht Amadea, worth $300 million, in 2022 based on a US warrant that found it belonged to Suleiman Kerimov, a multi-billionaire sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russian actions in Syria and Ukraine. .
In a court filing, federal prosecutors in Manhattan told U.S. District Judge Dale Ho that the Amadea yacht’s average monthly maintenance bill of $600,000 was “excessive,” justifying an auction. They also said that negotiations for Khudainatov to pay for the maintenance of the yacht had failed.
Prosecutors have said in previous court hearings that Khudainatov is acting as a “front owner” of Amadea to hide Kerimov’s role, and that payments for the yacht’s maintenance are necessary to preserve its value.
The seizure comes as Washington has tightened sanctions against people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to force Moscow to end its war against Ukraine.
If the US government manages to sell the yacht at auction, the proceeds from the sale will likely be transferred to Ukraine.
Prosecutors said Kerimov violated U.S. sanctions by funneling more than $1 million through the U.S. financial system toward the maintenance of the yacht Amadea, making the vessel now docked in San Diego subject to confiscation.
The fortune of Kerimov and his family, according to Forbes magazine, is $10.7 billion.
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2024-02-13 03:10:00
