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 officials claim the Cayman Islands-flagged Amadea is the property of Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch who built 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 legal professional who represents Millemarin Investments, the company the $325 million ship is registered to, mentioned it isn't owned by Kerimov. As an alternative, he argued in court that company paperwork traces the ship's possession to Eduard Khudainatov, a former government at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil company who has not been sanctioned. 

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

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, in response to local studies and the maritime analytics web site Marine Site visitors. Soon after, a federal choose accepted a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's high prosecutor moved to stop the ship from leaving.

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

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

Legislation passed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would enable the U.S. to sell the yacht and different properties price more than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs with the intention to fund the Ukrainian struggle effort. President Joe Biden supports the bill, which has yet to go the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and different ill-begotten good points," Biden said on April 28 on the White Home.

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