russian yacht fiji

U.S. says Fiji seized Russian billionaire’s $300 million superyacht

A $300 million yacht allegedly owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov has been seized by Fijian authorities at the request of the U.S., the Justice Department announced Thursday.

The 348-foot luxury vessel, known as the Amadea, was seized after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that it was subject to forfeiture based on probable cause of sanctions violations.

The U.S. government had said in court papers that "Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused U.S. dollar transactions for the AMADEA to be sent through U.S. financial institutions, after a time which Kerimov was designated by the Treasury Department."

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the 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."

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

A lawyer for Kerimov in France did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for the company listed as owning the yacht have denied that Kerimov has any connection to it.

The move came as Western nations have ramped up efforts to seize and freeze assets around the world owned by sanctioned Russian elites with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

A billionaire who has been called the “Russian Gatsby,” Kerimov is one of the richest people in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index . Much of his wealth is thought to stem from his family’s stake in Polyus — the largest gold producer in Russia. 

In 2018, Kerimov was sanctioned by the U.S., along with seven other Russian oligarchs, for benefitting from the Putin regime and Russia’s “malign activity around the globe,” including the occupation of Crimea and efforts to subvert Western democracies. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kerimov was hit with additional sanctions by Canada, the U.K. and the E.U. 

The Amadea arrived in Fiji last month. The vessel was “restrained from leaving Fijian waters” until a warrant to seize the yacht was finalized by U.S. authorities, Fiji’s public prosecutor, Christopher Pryde, said in a statement at the time. 

NBC News last month published an investigation , in partnership with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media partners, into how Kerimov and his associates used a maze of corporate structures to move more than $700 million in wire transfers from 2012 to 2014. 

The investigation reviewed major financial record leaks — including the Pandora Papers and the FinCEN Files — to identify the wire transfers and connect the companies behind them to Kerimov and his associates. While rich people around the world use creative tactics to protect their wealth, the documents revealed the exceptional steps the billionaire 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. 

On April 6, reports emerged that the European Union was considering adding Kerimov’s son Said to its sanctions list, and within hours Polyus announced that the younger Kerimov had resigned from its board of directors and sold off nearly half of his shares in the company, distancing the company in the event that Said was sanctioned. 

Days later the E.U. sanctioned Said for being “associated with a leading businessperson” who provides “a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation,” according to the sanctions announcement. The U.K. followed suit the next week. 

Kerimov’s assets have included a $190 million estate in the French Riviera, according to French prosecutors.

Despite holding diplomatic immunity, Kerimov was arrested in France in 2017 in connection with a tax evasion and money laundering case over the purchase of the property.

French authorities accused Kerimov of purchasing the multimillion-dollar villa and three others through a front man. Charges against Kerimov were later dropped, but the company used to purchase the property paid out approximately $12 million in back taxes and fines. 

Lawyers for Kerimov have denied that he owned the property.

"After several years of investigation, no incrimination has been brought against our client," one of his lawyers told NBC News.

But an official from the prosecutor’s office in Nice said the investigation has not been closed. 

The companies used to purchase the four villas in the south of France were transferred to Kerimov’s eldest daughter from May to November of last year, according to French company register records.

Kerimov’s son and daughter did not respond to requests for comment at the time.

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

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

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

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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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Weeks after declaring an oligarch's yacht was seized in Fiji, the U.S. still doesn't have it

By Graham Kates

May 27, 2022 / 2:34 PM EDT / CBS News

Two days after the Department of Justice announced it assisted Fijian police in seizing a $300 million yacht allegedly owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch, those same police ordered American authorities to leave the ship, according to court documents.

U.S. efforts to seize and sell the 348-foot Amadea, a helipad-topped vessel purportedly owned by gold mining billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, have been hampered by disagreements with the ship's crew and legal maneuvering by its owner, according to the documents filed in a Fiji court. 

Those disagreements came to a head on the morning of May 7, when U.S. law enforcement and a maritime contractor it hired boarded the ship around 9:30 a.m. and demanded the captain "immediately handover the Amadea with all available key personnel," according to a sworn affidavit from the captain, filed in Fiji court on May 24. 

Captain John Walsh, a British national, wrote in the affidavit that he, "politely informed U.S. officials and contractors we were unable to assist." 

Walsh wrote that the crew's workload had been reduced to "watchkeeping and emergency responsibilities only" because the ship owner's assets — needed to pay the crew — had been frozen. He added that crewmembers feared cooperating with the U.S., in breach of their contracts with the ship's owner, would damage their reputations in the yachting industry.

"In short, the current crew of the Amadea are refusing to sail on the Amadea with the U.S. authorities to an unknown destination," Walsh wrote. 

U.S. authorities say the holding company that owns the Amadea is a front for Kerimov. The company's attorney in Fiji, Feizal Haniff, says the true owner is actually a non-sanctioned Russian oil executive named Eduard Khudainatov.

The Amadea is one of at least two massive superyachts — with a combined value of about $1 billion — owned by holding companies tied to Khudainatov. But American officials are dismissive of Khudainatov's claims. An FBI agent claimed in a warrant that Khudainatov is "a second-tier oligarch (at best) who would not have anywhere near the resources to purchase and maintain more than $1 billion worth of luxury yachts."

The FBI agent called Khudainatov a "straw man" for the sanctioned Russian elite who really own the yachts. He wrote that the Amadea crew "identified Kerimov as the true owner of the Amadea and others described seeing Kerimov's family using the yacht on multiple occasions," in interviews with Fijian police and the FBI. He described emails found on ship computers that allegedly referred to the Kerimovs in code — "G-0" for Kerimov, "G-1" for his wife, "G-2" for his daughter and "G-3" for his son, and said the Kerimovs had requested long-term changes to the ship, such as a new pizza oven, a new spa bed, and, from Kerimov himself, "the quickest (jet skis) available."

When the FBI boarded the Amadea on May 7, they seemed to be in a hurry, Walsh wrote.

"U.S. authorities and contractors were rushing and conscious of time and wanting immediate handover....in order for them to depart Fiji on the Amadea without delay," Walsh wrote.

That haste was justified. Just 50 minutes after U.S. officials boarded the ship, a Fiji police superintendent came aboard and ordered U.S. officials to leave. He informed them that the day before, on May 6, the Fiji court had ordered a stay of a ruling made three days earlier, approving the U.S. warrant to seize the ship. The Americans had run out of time to sail away.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on this story.

In the days after the May 7 incident, Walsh — who is one of two captains who rotate at the helm of the Amadea — noted other signs that the U.S. was preparing for a swift takeover of the ship if finally given permission.

Would-be crew, apparently hired by a contractor for the U.S., showed up intermittently, asking for accommodations or to help out around the ship. Walsh declined each time, he wrote, because he hadn't vetted them. 

A May 6 job listing for a ship that appears to match the description of the Amadea was posted on the yachting industry site yotspot.com. The posting sought people to fill 19 positions — ranging from chief officer to cook — "needed asap."

The president of the contractor company helping to seize the vessel, National Maritime Services, said he was not authorized to speak to the media. Government records show the company is owed more than $6 million for its work this year.

Legislation supported by President Biden that has passed the House of Representatives, but not the Senate, would allow the U.S. to sell the luxurious ship and direct the proceeds toward the Ukraine war and recovery effort.

The newly hired crew now appears to be in place and ready, according to Haniff, and court records show a pilot boat has been booked in the Amadea's name and is on standby. But the U.S. still can't make its move.

On Friday, a court ruled against the Amadea's owners, but gave Haniff a week to appeal once more to Fiji's Supreme Court, meaning the Department of Justice will once again have to wait before it can finally seize the ship. It is unclear how long the proceedings before that court will take to conclude.

In the meantime, U.S. officials in Fiji have continued to board the ship regularly. They accompanied Fijian police in serving warrants for ship computers as recently as Monday, and were even on board right after Friday's ruling, according to Haniff.

Robert Legare contributed reporting for this story.

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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What do we know about the $450m superyacht linked to a Russian oligarch that's been seized in Fiji?

Topic: Unrest, Conflict and War

Boat captain Emosi Dawai looks at the superyacht Amadea where it is docked at the Queens Wharf in Lautoka, Fiji. ( AP: Fiji Sun/Leon Lord )

Fiji and the United States are embroiled in a court case over a superyacht allegedly belonging to a sanctioned Russian oligarch.

However, questions over who owns the Amadea — worth some $454 million — remain.

The fate of the luxury vessel is due to be determined by a judge in Fiji on Tuesday. Here's what we know:

Yacht has live lobster tank and helipad

According to Boat International, the Amadea is 106-metres long and features a stainless steel albatross that extends off its bow and weighs more than 5 tonnes.

It also boasts a live lobster tank in the galley, a 10-metre pool, a hand-painted Pleyel piano and a large helipad.

The Amadea travelled from Mexico for 18 days across the Pacific, entering Fijian waters on April 13, but it didn't have customs clearance.

Almost immediately, the United States sought to seize the yacht and sent a formal request for legal assistance to Fiji to prevent the vessel from leaving the Pacific Island's waters.

The High Court in Suva ordered the yacht not leave Fiji until the merits of the US warrant to seize it were determined.

A High Court hearing took place in Fiji last week behind closed doors, so media were barred from covering it.

For now, the yacht continues to sit in a Fijian harbour, with its crew of about 25 rotating on and off the vessel, while a police officer remains on board to ensure it stays put.

Which oligarch owns it?

Good question.

The US alleges it's owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

According to Forbes, he is worth more than $US14.3 billion (almost $20 billion).

The US alleges tycoon Suleiman Kerimov (pictured above at a soccer match in 2012) is the beneficial owner of the yacht, but defence lawyers dispute that. ( Reuters: Sergei Rasulov )

Mr Kerimov, who was not on board, is a politician and businessman, and a close ally to Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

He's been sanctioned by the US since 2018 for alleged money laundering and has faced further sanctions from Canada, Europe and Britain after Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, defence lawyers dispute the ownership, saying the yacht belongs to Eduard Khudainatov, the former chairman and chief executive of Rosneft, a state-controlled Russian oil and gas company.

Importantly, Mr Khudainatov does not appear to be facing sanctions.

Why is yacht ownership so murky?

Many luxury yachts are linked to Russian oligarchs, but ownership is often veiled in secrecy, and they are often registered through multiple, offshore companies or trust funds.

One expert interviewed by the ABC used the analogy of an onion: The more layers an onion has, the longer it takes to peel.

The yacht boasts a live lobster tank, a 10-metre pool, a hand-painted Pleyel piano and a large helipad. ( AP: Leon Lord, Fiji Sun )

In case of the Amadea, the ship is flagged in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, and its registered owner since 2021 is a company called Millemarin Investments (sometimes spelled Millemarine), according to the online site Equasis.

However, that fact alone does not give us many clues as to who the actual owner is.

Defence lawyers have claimed Millemarin is the legal owner of the vessel and that the company is linked to the real, or beneficial, owner, Mr Khudainatov.

However, US authorities have claimed that, behind all the various fronts, the real owner is Mr Kerimov.

Hamish Fletcher — a partner at the New Zealand law firm Oceanlaw — said superyachts often had multiple registrations because it was "just another layer of searching that someone would have to do".

"If someone is interested to try to find out who owns a vessel, they will search that register," he said.

"And then you have it in another country and then … you will probably not find out who the real, beneficial owner is, because you will just see what's on the register, which won't necessarily be the true owner."

Professor Donald Rothwell — an international and maritime law expert at the Australian National University — agreed that ship ownership was often a complex web.

"The question as to the ownership of the yacht sees us delving into incredibly murky and very difficult areas … where a vessel, for example, is not owned outright by an individual, but might be owned by a corporation or multiple different interests."

That, he said, added to the "complexity of any law enforcement".

Many superyacht owners also use multiple registrations for tax benefits.

While many Russian yachts are still at large — and moored in countries such as the Maldives or parts of the Middle East, to escape sanctions — others are on the move.

How can US jurisdiction stretch all the way to Fiji? 

Professor Rothwell said the United States could be seeking to seize the yacht under the United Nations Convention against transnational organised crime, which both Fiji and the US are a party to.

If that is the case, he said, then "Fiji, as a party to the convention, has an obligation to assist the United States in those processes".

The luxury yacht Amadea has a large metal albatross on its bow.  ( AFP: Fiji Sun/Leon Lord )

Professor Rothwell said Fiji could detain the vessel until the US sought to commence additional legal proceedings.

He said they could do so against the owner of the yacht or against the vessel itself.

"The way to think about this is that the sanctions provide the overarching framework for how the United States is seeking to possibly seize this vessel," Professor Rothwell said.

"But the actual technical aspects that the United States is relying on to enforce aspects of the sanctions, in this instance, are really relying upon the UN Convention.

"So, it's part of a growing, concerted approach ... to use multiple legal mechanisms to bring Russian entities ... to account for events associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine."

Fiji has also condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

"Fiji has voted in the United Nations to condemn what Russia is doing, and we stand by any sanction by the global community against the Russians and what they are doing in Ukraine," Fiji's Opposition Leader, Viliame Gavoka, said. 

According  to the Fiji Sun , the prosecution has argued ownership of the Amadea is not an issue for the Fiji court, and the ownership question could be handled by the US jurisdiction. 

The defence argued  that there was no evidence the Amadea was a proceed of crime and that the Fiji court must be satisfied the yacht was "tainted property", not simply because the US said it was. 

As to whether US authorities can seize the luxurious superyacht, a judge is expected to rule on that decision on Tuesday.

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Fiji hands over a superyacht that the U.S. says is tied to a Russian oligarch.

The handover of the Amadea is the latest development in a global effort to seize the assets of oligarchs with ties to Russia’s president.

• Share full article

By Mike Ives

• June 7, 2022

Fiji has handed over to the United States a $325 million superyacht that American investigators say is owned by a Russian billionaire on a U.S. sanctions list, the island nation’s top prosecutor said on Tuesday.

The handover of the yacht, the Amadea, was based on a decision by Fiji’s Supreme Court and is a new development in a global effort to seize the assets of oligarchs with ties to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

The Amadea was held in Fijian waters in April in response to a U.S. request for assistance and seized last month based on a warrant that had been issued by a federal court in Washington and accepted by a Fijian court.

The Amadea’s ownership structure is murky. American investigators say that the yacht was sold last year to Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian government official and billionaire investor who has been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2018. But Feizal Haniff, a lawyer in Fiji who represents a company in the British Virgin Islands that controls the vessel, has argued that its true owner is Eduard Khudainatov, a wealthy Russian who is not under U.S. sanctions.

Fiji’s Court of Appeal dismissed Mr. Haniff’s appeal in late May but said that the judgment would not take effect for seven days. Last week, he filed another application asking the Fijian authorities to delay enforcing the U.S. warrant.

On Tuesday, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that the yacht could leave Fiji in the care of the U.S. authorities, Christopher Pryde, the country’s director of public prosecutions, said in a statement .

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