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

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

American and Fijian officials declare 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 United States, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

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

Kerimov and Khudainatov couldn't be reached for comment. The company intends to enchantment Tuesday's resolution.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, based on native stories and the maritime analytics website Marine Site visitors. Quickly after, a federal decide accredited a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's top prosecutor moved to forestall the ship from leaving.

The Department of Justice couldn't immediately be reached for remark. 

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

Laws passed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would enable the U.S. to promote the yacht and different properties value greater than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs as a way to fund the Ukrainian conflict effort. President Joe Biden supports the invoice, which has but to go the Senate.

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

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter overlaying felony justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com