Fijian police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation seized a 348-foot luxury yacht owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.
According to a May 5 Department of Justice news release, Fiji authorities responded to a request for legal aid from the DOJ and executed a seizure order issued by a federal court, which ruled that Kerimov’s $300 million yacht, the Amadea, was subject to forfeiture based on “probable cause for violations of U.S. law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, money laundering and conspiracy."
“Last month, I warned that the department had its eyes on every yacht purchased with dirty money. This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide – not even in the remotest part of the world,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said in the release.“We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine.”
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the government through “corruption and its malign activity around the globe, including the occupation of Crimea,” the release stated. The Treasury Department also named Kerimov as an official of the Government of the Russian Federation and member of the Russian Federation Counsel.
“This ruling should make clear that there is no hiding place for the assets of individuals who violate U.S. laws. And there is no hiding place for the assets of criminals who enable the Russian regime,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, according to the release. “The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine.”
According to court documents, Kerimov had the Amadea since his designation by the Russian government. Kerimov and those acting on his behalf also routed U.S. financial transactions through American financial institutions to pay for the support and maintenance of the Amadea, the DOJ stated.
As part of a multi-agency task force called KleptoCapture, U.S. authorities are attempting to enforce the sanctions, export controls and economic penalties the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
“This seizure of Suleiman Kerimov’s vessel, the Amadea, nearly 8,000 miles from Washington, D.C., symbolizes the reach of the Department of Justice as we continue to work with our global partners to disrupt the sense of impunity of those who have supported corruption and the suffering of so many,” said Director Andrew Adams of Task Force KleptoCapture. “This Task Force will continue to bring to bear every resource available in this unprecedented, multinational series of enforcement actions against the Russian regime and its enablers.”
