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

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

American and Fijian officers 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 US, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

But an lawyer who represents Millemarin Investments, the corporate the $325 million ship is registered to, said it is not 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 firm who has not been sanctioned. 

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

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, in keeping with native studies and the maritime analytics web site Marine Visitors. Soon after, a federal decide authorized a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's prime prosecutor moved to prevent the ship from leaving.

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

On April 4, the company announced 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 handed by the Home of Representatives on April 27 would enable the U.S. to promote the yacht and other properties price more than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs as a way to fund the Ukrainian conflict effort. President Joe Biden helps the bill, which has but to go the Senate.

"We will seize their yachts, their luxury properties and different ill-begotten positive aspects," Biden mentioned on April 28 at the White Home.

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