For sale: luxury motor yacht. Ownership fiercely disputed.
The saga of the $325-million, 106-meter Amadea -- replete with helicopter pad, pool, jacuzzi, and “a stunning winter garden on the sun deck” -- enters its final chapter, potentially, on September 10 when a US-government-ordered auction is scheduled to conclude.
The sale culminates a more-than-three-year, bare-knuckle legal fight over who really owns the yacht.
The US Justice Department seized the boat in Fiji in 2022, saying it belonged to Suleiman Kerimov, a politically connected Russian billionaire who was sanctioned in 2018 in response to Russia’s “malign activity around the globe.”
Not so fast, said lawyers for Eduard Khudainatov, a former top executive of the Russian state oil giant Rosneft, who argued that he was the true owner and that the US government’s case was flimsy and not backed up by evidence.
In March, a US court ruled in favor of the Justice Department, setting the stage for the auction.
Khudainatov could not be reached for comment.
A spokesman for Khudainatov's US-based legal team declined comment on the pending conclusion of the auction, instead pointing to a statement issued last month when process to solicit bids began.
"The sale is improper and premature; we retain title and are actively appealing the forfeiture ruling," defense lawyer Adam Ford was quoted as saying. “If our appeal succeeds, the government must repay the vessel’s full value. We doubt it will attract any rational buyer at fair market price, because ownership can, and will, be challenged in courts outside the United States, exposing purchasers to years of costly, uncertain litigation.
The auction of the yacht is significant in particular because of a major shift in policy by the administration of President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has shut down major anti-corruption programs that had been at the vanguard of international efforts to clamp down on money laundering involving corrupt political leaders, politically connected business interests, and transnational criminal groups.
One program called the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative had drawn praise for, among other cases, targeting Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of Uzbekistan’s late president. Another, called KleptoCapture, was set up to target Russian oligarchs after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The decision to end the kleptocracy programs had fanned suspicions that the effort to seize and auction the Amadea would be shelved by the Justice Department. The yacht has been berthed at a shipyard in San Diego, California, pending the outcome of the legal fight, at substantial costs, paid for by US taxpayers.
“One reason I expect the government is going ahead with the sale is that otherwise they have to pay the costs to moor and maintain the Amadea,” said Alexis Loeb, a former deputy chief and assistant US attorney who has worked on foreign corruption cases. “It looks like the claim may be appealed, so the government could still choose to settle later during the appeal if it chose."
She said the decision by the Justice Department to press forward with the auction of the Amadea might have been motivated in part by a fear of bad publicity.
“I would imagine that returning a super yacht that the government has maintained is owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch could attract some unfavorable media attention,” she told RFE/RL.
Khudianatov's lawyers have appealed the lower court ruling, which could potentially draw out further the final sale of the boat.
More Luxury Yachts
Khudainatov’s alleged ties to the Amadea also drew scrutiny due to other luxury yachts he has been associated with.
The Scheherazade, a 140-meter, $700-million, motor yacht, which activists from the late anti-corruption crusader Aleksei Navalny claimed belonged to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was seized in Italy in May 2022. Corporate records showed that the boat was officially owned by a Khudainatov-controlled company.
Khudainatov has claimed he also owns the Crescent, a 135-meter boat that has been described as the Scheherazade’s “sister ship.” That yacht, which was seized in Spain in March 2022, is alleged to belong to Igor Sechin, the longtime chief of state-owned oil giant Rosneft.
