US gov’t looks to unload seized $300M Russian superyacht over $600K in monthly upkeep
The US government asked a judge for permission to sell a $300 million Russian superyacht seized in 2022 — citing the fact that it’s been costing taxpayers $600,000 a month to maintain.
The hefty monthly tab includes $360,000 in payments to the 348-foot vessel’s crew, plus $75,000 for fuel and $165,000 in other maintenance, like waste removal and food, according to court papers filed by the US in Manhattan on Friday obtained by Bloomberg.
The superyacht, called Amadea, reportedly belongs to Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, an alleged money launderer sanctioned by the US in 2018 as one of several oligarchs who profited from the Kremlin “through corruption and its malign activities around the globe, including the occupation of Crimea,” according to the Justice Department.
Kerimov, 57, is worth $9.1 billion, according to Bloomberg’s calculations, which he built making hefty bets on Russian companies across a variety of industries after the fall of the Soviet Union, the outlet reported.
Amadea was seized at the request of the US government in Fiji in April 2022, though the costs it has incurred since then shouldn’t have to be paid by the American public while the court considers whether to order forfeiture of the vessel, the government said in its court filing, per Bloomberg.
The $600,000-a-month bill is “far from modest,” the DOJ added.
Authorities are also due to pay Amadea’s $1.7 million annual iinsurance bill this month, according to Bloomberg, and the vessel is scheduled to go into dry dock for repairs in March.
Though the DOJ won’t have to pay monthly maintenance costs when Amadea is in dry dock, it expects to cough up $5.6 million to mend the yacht.
Amadea isn’t the only asset a Justice Department task force has targeted. The group has been seizing yachts, planes and luxury real estate of wealthy Russians who have been sanctioned in connection with the war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported.
In March, for example, US investigators asked a judge for permission to take over a Southampton mansion along with two Park Avenue condos and property on Fisher Island in Florida worth a combined $75 million owned by sanctioned Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg.
A year prior, Vekselberg’s $90 million, 255-foot superyacht, Tango, was seized in Spain at the request of the US government.
The US has hoped that by seizing the property of wealthy Russian leaders, it will punish them for backing the war and influence their future behavior.
Should Amadea be allowed to go to sale, the court’s next hurdle is figureing out who actually owns the luxury yacht, according to Bloomberg.
Though the US says Kerimov is the owner, the American government has also accused him of violating sanctions by making payments that went to US companies or passed through the US financial system, Bloomberg reported.
Eduard Khudainatov, the ex-CEO of Russian state-owned oil producer Rosneft, has also claimed that he’s the actual owner of Amadea.
Khudainatov has been considered Vladimir Putin’s right-hand man, and was thrust into the limelight in May 2022, when US authorities identified him as the proxy owner of two seized superyachts: Amadea and the 459-foot Scheherazade, the $700 million luxury boat impounded by Italy.
Khudainatov, however, hasn’t been sanctioned by the US.
Lawyers for the obscure oligarch said in a statement that Khudainatov would reimburse the US for the cost of maintaining Amadea — which already totals about $20 million — if it is returned to him, according to Bloomberg.
The lawyers called the seizure “unlawful.”
While the US rejects Khudainatov’s claim, it says that he should pay for the maintenance until a decision is made about the vessel’s forfeiture, Bloomberg reported.
As long as Khudainatov isn’t paying, the government says it’s entitled to sell the boat.
