Court in Fiji approves U.S. warrant to seize Russian-owned mega-yacht

Fiji's High Court docket on Tuesday dominated that a huge Russian-owned yacht may be seized by U.S. authorities.

American and Fijian officers claim the Cayman Islands-flagged Amadea is the property of Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch who constructed his fortune on gold mining. Kerimov was sanctioned in March by the USA, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

However an attorney who represents Millemarin Investments, the corporate the $325 million ship is registered to, mentioned it is not owned by Kerimov. Instead, he argued in court that corporate paperwork traces the ship's ownership to Eduard Khudainatov, a former govt at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil firm who has not been sanctioned. 

Kerimov and Khudainatov could not be reached for remark. The company intends to attraction Tuesday's determination.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, in accordance with local studies and the maritime analytics website Marine Site visitors. Soon after, a federal choose accepted a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's prime prosecutor moved to forestall the ship from leaving.

The Division of Justice couldn't instantly be reached for comment. 

On April 4, the agency introduced that Spanish authorities had assisted it in seizing another Russian yacht, the $90 million Tango, which was owned by Viktor Vekselberg, the owner of the Russian conglomerate Renova Group.

Laws handed by the Home of Representatives on April 27 would allow the U.S. to promote the yacht and different properties worth greater than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs so as to fund the Ukrainian warfare effort. President Joe Biden supports the bill, which has but to cross the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury properties and other ill-begotten positive factors," Biden mentioned on April 28 at the White Home.

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privateness points and information safety for CBS Information Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com