A court in New York has authorised the US Department of Justice to put up for sale the yacht Amadea, which, according to the US authorities, belongs to Russian billionaire and senator Suleiman Kerimov.
The Amadea vessel was arrested in Fiji at the request of the US in April 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In June of that year, the Fiji Supreme Court decided to hand over the yacht to US authorities because the mooring was “costly to the government”.
The US government planned to sell the yacht and transfer the proceeds to Ukraine. Now the vessel is parked in the port of San Diego (California). It was reported that the US pays about $600,000 a month for the yacht’s maintenance and another $140,000 for its insurance.
The process of confiscation of the vessel has been delayed for almost three years due to the fact that the company, which according to the documents owns the yacht, appealed against its arrest. The company’s representative stated that the owner of the yacht is the former head of Rosneft Eduard Khudainatov, who was not affected by the US sanctions (he was included in the sanctions list by the EU, Switzerland and Ukraine). The US Department of Justice claims that he is only a front owner covering for Kerimov. Khudainatov denies this.
On 10 March 2025, a court in the Southern District of New York ruled that Khudainatov has no right to appeal the seizure of the yacht because he is not its owner. Since no one other than him claims ownership of the yacht, the U.S. agency asked the court to allow the forfeiture for lack of an owner.
Khudainatov’s lawyer Adam Ford disagreed with the ruling and promised to “pursue all available appellate remedies.”
Suleiman Kerimov-billionaire, twice elected deputy of the State Duma, since 2008 he has been the representative of the Republic of Dagestan in the Federation Council. He has been under US sanctions since 2018, and was placed under EU sanctions in March 2022. In mid-November 2022, the US imposed sanctions on his wife Firuza, daughters Amina and Gulnara, and son Said.