Russian Oligarch's Megayacht to be Auctioned Off

 

The U.S. government has reached the end of the long process to forfeit and auction off the seized Russian megayacht Amadea, which was captured by the FBI in Fiji and sailed back to San Diego in custody three years ago. 

The Amadea is a 350-foot motor yacht built in Germany in 2016. U.S. authorities believe that her beneficial owner was the sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Its value has been estimated in the range of $300 million.

Amadea called in Fiji in April 2022, and the U.S. Justice Department filed a request for her seizure with local courts. FBI agents were dispatched to carry out enforcement. The yacht's holding company sued, and the case worked its way up through the country's court system. After a month of litigation, Fiji's supreme court awarded custody of the vessel to the U.S. government, and the yacht was reflagged for a voyage to the United States.  

“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," said then-Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco (since replaced by Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's personal attorney). 

After extended civil forfeiture proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Justice Department won the right to sell the yacht. Fraser Yachts, the world's leading yacht brokerage, has been appointed to promote the sale; National Maritime Services is conducting the sealed-bid auction. 

The U.S. government has spent about $32 million to maintain Amadea to its current standards over the past three years, according to court documents. The cost includes insurance, crew wages and exceptional upkeep. Amadea may look much like any other megayacht on the outside, but the interior is stunning in its opulence, featuring exquisite trim work, a glass-walled central elevator, marble and parquet flooring, a spiral grand staircase, and gleaming polished wood at every turn - a testament to the skill of German yachtbuilders. (A video of the interior may be found here.) 

"This is perhaps the most spectacular, exacting and beautiful ship any of us will ever see," said National Maritime Services Chairman Bob Toney. "An opportunity like this for discerning owners is exceedingly rare – maybe once in a lifetime."