- The US is trying to seize a superyacht believed to belong to sanctioned oligarch Suleyman Kerimov.
- The $325 million ship docked in Fiji on April 13.
- Fiji’s chief prosecutor has asked the Supreme Court to detain the ship.
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The US is trying to seize a $325 million superyacht moored in Fiji linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov.
Christopher Pryde, Fiji’s chief prosecutor, filed motions in the High Court on Tuesday “ordering that (i) the motor yacht Amadea be prevented from leaving Fiji waters pending an application for the registration of an arrest warrant for confiscation of property is complete and (ii) that a U.S. warrant for confiscation of the Amadea is filed.”
The court has not yet set a date for hearing the motions, which were first reported by Reuters.
Pryde’s office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment on why the applications were filed and details of the ship’s owner. The US Treasury Department and Justice Department did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
The Amadea docked in Lautoka, Fiji’s second-largest city, on April 13 after an 18-day voyage from Mexico’s Pacific coast, data from vessel-tracking agency Marine Traffic shows. An official with the National Police Command and Control Center previously told Reuters that the yacht’s captain was questioned by police, who said the vessel had arrived in Fiji without clearing customs.
Western countries have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine. In addition to banning transactions with Russia’s central bank and blocking trade in luxury goods, the West has sanctioned Russian elites and confiscated their assets – including their private jets, superyachts and property – to pressure the country to stop its invasion Ukraine. Fiji has not imposed sanctions on Russia.
Kerimov was sanctioned by the EU and the UK on March 15. The EU said Kerimov was “a member of the inner circle of oligarchs” close to Putin and that he attended a meeting of oligarchs in the Kremlin in late February with Putin to discuss the impact of Western sanctions.
Kerimov had previously been sanctioned by the US in 2018, which said he was a member of the Russian Federation Council and was accused of both money laundering in France and failing to pay taxes on €400 million ($432 million) mansions.
Kerimov is worth around $14.3 billion, according to estimates by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Kerimov owns Nafta Moscow, a financial and industrial group in Russia, and his family owns a majority stake in Polyus Gold, which claims to be Russia’s largest gold producer.
Assets from sanctioned oligarchs were confiscated from nations like France, Italy and Spain. The first yacht to be seized under the latest US sanctions was the $90 million superyacht Tango – believed to be owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg – which was seized by authorities on April 4 at the Spanish island of Mallorca was arrested at the request of the US Department of Justice.
Kerimov’s son Said Kerimov owns the superyacht ICE, which is estimated to be worth around $170 million.