russian luxury yacht seized

U.S. wins case to seize Russian superyacht in Fiji, sails away

The United States won a legal battle on Tuesday to seize a Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji and wasted no time in taking command of the $325 million vessel and sailing it away from the South Pacific nation.

The court ruling represented a significant victory for the U.S. as it encounters obstacles in its attempts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs around the world. While those efforts are welcomed by many who oppose the war in Ukraine, some actions have tested the limits of American jurisdiction abroad.

In Fiji, the nation’s Supreme Court lifted a stay order which had prevented the U.S. from seizing the superyacht Amadea.

Chief Justice Kamal Kumar ruled that based on the evidence, the chances of defense lawyers mounting an appeal that the top court would hear were “nil to very slim.”

Kumar said he accepted arguments that keeping the superyacht berthed in Fiji at Lautoka harbor was “costing the Fijian government dearly.”

“The fact that U.S. authorities have undertaken to pay costs incurred by the Fijian government is totally irrelevant,” the judge found. He said the Amadea “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States of America.”

The U.S. removed the motorized vessel within an hour or two of the court’s ruling, possibly to ensure the yacht didn’t get entangled in any further legal action.

In early May, the Justice Department issued a statement saying the Amadea had been seized in Fiji, but that turned out to be premature after lawyers appealed.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the U.S. intended to take the Amadea, which the FBI has linked to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

Fiji Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde said unresolved questions of money laundering and the ownership of the Amadea need to be decided in the U.S.

“The decision acknowledges Fiji’s commitment to respecting international mutual assistance requests and Fiji’s international obligations,” Pryde said.

In court documents, the FBI linked the Amadea to the Kerimov family through their alleged use of code names while aboard and the purchase of items such as a pizza oven and a spa bed. The ship became a target of Task Force KleptoCapture, launched in March to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs to put pressure on Russia to end the war.

The 348-foot -long vessel, about the length of a football field, features a live lobster tank, a hand-painted piano, a swimming pool and a large helipad.

Lawyer Feizal Haniff, who represented paper owner Millemarin Investments, had argued the owner was another wealthy Russian who, unlike Kerimov, doesn’t face sanctions.

The U.S. acknowledged that paperwork appeared to show Eduard Khudainatov was the owner but said he was also the paper owner of a second and even larger superyacht, the Scheherazade, which has been linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The U.S. questioned whether Khudainatov could really afford two superyachts worth a total of more than $1 billion.

“The fact that Khudainatov is being held out as the owner of two of the largest superyachts on record, both linked to sanctioned individuals, suggests that Khudainatov is being used as a clean, unsanctioned straw owner to conceal the true beneficial owners,” the FBI wrote in a court affidavit.

Court documents say the Amadea switched off its transponder soon after Russia invaded Ukraine and sailed from the Caribbean through the Panama Canal to Mexico, arriving with over $100,000 in cash. It then sailed thousands of miles (kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean to Fiji.

The Justice Department said it didn’t believe paperwork showing the Amadea was next headed to the Philippines, arguing it was really destined for Vladivostok or elsewhere in Russia.

The department said it found a text message on a crew member’s phone saying, “We’re not going to Russia” followed by a “shush” emoji.

The U.S. said Kerimov secretly bought the Cayman Island-flagged Amadea last year through various shell companies.

Kerimov made a fortune investing in Russian gold producer Polyus, with Forbes magazine putting his net worth at $14.5 billion. The U.S. first sanctioned him in 2018 after he was detained in France and accused of money laundering there, sometimes arriving with suitcases stuffed with 20 million euros.

Khudainatov is the former chairman and chief executive of Rosneft, the state-controlled Russian oil and gas company.

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$300 Million Yacht of Sanctioned Russian Oligarch Suleiman Kerimov Seized by Fiji at Request of United States

Fijian law enforcement executed a seizure warrant freezing the Motor Yacht Amadea (the Amadea), a 348-foot luxury vessel owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. Fijian law enforcement, with the support and assistance of the FBI, acted pursuant to a mutual legal assistance request from the U.S. Department of Justice following issuance of a seizure warrant from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which found that the Amadea is subject to forfeiture based on probable cause of violations of U.S. law, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), money laundering and conspiracy.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Kerimov as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe, including the occupation of Crimea. In sanctioning Kerimov, the Treasury Department also cited Kerimov as an official of the Government of the Russian Federation and a member of the Russian Federation Counsel.

According to court documents, Kerimov owned the Amadea after his designation. Additionally, Kerimov and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused U.S. dollar transactions to be routed through U.S. financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea.

“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. “The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine.”

“Last month, I warned that the department had its eyes on every yacht purchased with dirty money,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide – not even in the remotest part of the world. We will use every means of enforcing the sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified war in Ukraine.”

“This seizure demonstrates the FBI's persistence in pursuing sanctioned Russian oligarchs attempting to evade accountability for their role in jeopardizing our national security,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “The FBI, along with our international partners, will continue to seek out those individuals who contribute to the advancement of Russia’s malign activities and ensure they are brought to justice, regardless of where, or how, they attempt to hide.”

“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.”

“The U.S. Marshals Service will continue to contribute our expertise in support of Task Force efforts to take possession of seized assets of Russian oligarchs during these forfeiture operations,” said Director Ronald L. Davis of the U.S. Marshals Service. 

The seizure was coordinated through the Justice Department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement task force dedicated to enforcing the sweeping sanctions, export controls, and economic countermeasures that the United States, along with its foreign allies and partners, has imposed in response to Russia’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine. Announced by the Attorney General on March 2 and run out of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will continue to leverage all of the department’s tools and authorities to combat efforts to evade or undermine the collective actions taken by the U.S. government in response to Russian military aggression.

Upon receipt of a mutual legal assistance request from the United States, Fijian authorities executed the request, obtaining a domestic seizure warrant from a Fijian court.

The Amadea, International Maritime Organization number 1012531, is believed to be worth approximately $300 million or more. The yacht is now in Lautoka, Fiji.

This matter is being investigated by the FBI’s New York Field Office with assistance from the FBI Legal Attaché Office in Canberra, Australia, the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, and the U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji.

Trial Attorney Andrew D. Beaty of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section and Trial Attorney Joshua L. Sohn of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section are handling the seizure. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Marshals Service provided significant assistance. The United States thanks the Fijian authorities for their cooperation in this matter.

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Russian oligarch's $300 million mega-yacht, the Amadea, seized in Fiji

By Graham Kates

Updated on: May 5, 2022 / 11:34 AM EDT / CBS News

Fijian officials have  seized a massive Russian-owned  yacht worth more than $300 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

Two days earlier, a Fiji court authorized a U.S. warrant for the seizure of the ship, the Amadea, which American authorities say is owned by billionaire oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, who built his fortune in gold mining. Kerimov was  sanctioned  in March by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian  invasion of Ukraine . The Justice Department said in a press release that Fijian law enforcement executed the seizure of the Cayman-Islands flagged vessel Thursday. 

"There is no hiding place for the assets of criminals who enable the Russian regime," Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the press release.

The court's ruling came despite the objections of a lawyer for Millemarin Investments, the company the 348-foot ship is registered to, who said it's not owned by Kerimov. Instead, he argued in court that corporate paperwork traces the Cayman Islands-flagged ship's ownership to Eduard Khudainatov, a former executive at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil company who has not been sanctioned. 

Khudainatov has been tied to another even larger yacht that is the focus of intense international speculation and investigation in Italy. Local media there have said the $700 million Scheherazade — one of the world's largest yachts, which U.S. officials reportedly suspect may be tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin — is registered to him.

Kerimov and Khudainatov could not be reached for comment. The company appeal Tuesday's decision and Fiji's court was expected to rule on the appeal Friday. It is not clear why authorities moved to seize the Amadea before that ruling was made.

The office of Fiji's top prosecutor, which handled the case, could not be reached for comment.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, according to local reports and the maritime analytics website Marine Traffic. That day, a federal judge approved a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's top prosecutor moved to prevent the ship from leaving.

The warrant claims the yacht had traveled "from the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, to Mexico, then to Fiji," a route U.S. officials believed meant Kerimov may have been "making plans for the Amadea to travel to Russia in an effort to avoid U.S. efforts to seize the vessel."

• Russian oligarchs moving yachts as U.S. tracks down assets

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

Legislation passed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would allow the U.S. to sell the yacht and other properties worth more than $2 million seized from  Russian oligarchs  in order to fund the Ukrainian war effort. President Joe Biden supports the bill, which has yet to pass the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes and other ill-begotten gains," Biden said on April 28 at the White House.

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter covering criminal justice, privacy issues and information security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at [email protected] or [email protected]

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A russian oligarch's $90 million yacht is seized as part of u.s. sanctions.

A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Monday. U.S. federal agents and Spain's Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. Francisco Ubilla/AP hide caption

A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Monday. U.S. federal agents and Spain's Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch.

Spanish officials have seized a Russian-owned luxury yacht in Mallorca at the request of the U.S. Department of Justice. It was the first coordinated seizure under the department's Task Force KleptoCapture, which is tasked with enforcing the sweeping sanctions placed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

The $90 million 255-foot yacht, named Tango, is owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who heads the Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate with interests in metallurgy, machinery, energy, telecommunications as well as others.

"Today marks our taskforce's first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime. It will not be the last," said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement. "Together, with our international partners, we will do everything possible to hold accountable any individual whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue its unjust war."

The seizure was performed by Spanish Guardia Civil officers with assistance from the FBI.

U.S. officials allege that the Tango has been owned continuously by Vekselberg since 2011 and that he used shell companies to " obfuscate his interest in the Tango ," the Justice Department said in a press release.

The release cites alleges bank fraud and money laundering as justification for the seizure, highlighting U.S. bank payments for support and maintenance of the vessel — including a December 2020 stay at a luxury water villa resort in the Maldives.

• Justice Department

Fiji seizes Russian oligarch’s $300m yacht at US request

US Justice Department task force has focused on seizing yachts and luxury assets owned by Russians following the invasion of Ukraine.

Fijian authorities have seized a $300m yacht owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov at the request of the United States, according to the US Justice Department.

The move, which was announced on Thursday, is the latest by Washington and its allies to up pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine , often targeting wealthy citizens known to have close ties to the Kremlin.

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A court in Fiji ruled on Tuesday that the US could seize the Russian-owned super-yacht , weeks after it arrived and was impounded by police.

“The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine,” US Attorney General Merrick B Garland said in a statement announcing the yacht’s seizure.

The US Treasury Department had previously designated Kerimov “as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who profit from the Russian government through corruption and its malign activity around the globe”, the Justice Department said.

It said court documents showed Kerimov owned the 348-foot luxury yacht, called Amadea, after the designation, and that the oligarch and those acting on his behalf “caused US dollar transactions to be routed through US  financial institutions for the support and maintenance of the Amadea”.

Kerimov was sanctioned by the US in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia’s actions in Syria and Ukraine. He has also been sanctioned by the European Union.

“This yacht seizure should tell every corrupt Russian oligarch that they cannot hide – not even in the remotest part of the world,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in a statement.

Authorities in various countries have seized luxury vessels and villas owned by Russian billionaires in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The US Justice Department launched the task force KleptoCapture in March to specifically focus on seizing yachts and other luxury assets to put the finances of Russian oligarchs under strain in a bid to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In early April, the US seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close Putin ally who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets.

US President Joe Biden has asked Congress for the authority to formally seize and sell assets of Russians to fund Ukraine’s defence and rebuilding, although it remains unclear if he would be able to do so without running afoul of international law.

Russian oligarch's seized yacht costs $7 million a year to maintain, US says

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Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Jonathan Oatis

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Reports on the New York federal courts. Previously worked as a correspondent in Venezuela and Argentina.

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US, allies seizing luxury yachts of Russian oligarchs in sanctions for war on Ukraine

As economic reprisals continue against russia, super-yachts worth millions are impounded in european ports to punish putin allies..

The U.S. and its allies are seizing Russian billionaires' luxury yachts – some of them longer than a football field and equipped with helipads, swimming pools and wine cellars – as part of sanctions against Russia for its brutal war on Ukraine .

At least 13 ships, with a combined value of  more than $2 billion , are reported to have been impounded since March 2. Though value estimates vary, the most expensive one is assessed at $600 million.

The vessels are owned by wealthy oligarchs , Russian businessmen with ties to President Vladimir Putin. U.S. and European Union sanctions, intended to put financial pressure on Russia, are freezing the assets of Putin associates. Those assets include bank accounts, property and possessions, including aircraft and yachts.

Seizing yachts, however, usually comes with costly and time-consuming problems for their owners and the impounding authority, and it can result in damage to the ships as well.

Whose yachts have been seized?

• Size: 280 ft.
• Value: $120 million
• Owned by: Igor Sechin, CEO, Russian state oil company Rosneft; sanctioned Feb. 28
• Seized in: France
• When: March 2
• Size: 126 ft.
• Value: $8 million
• Owned by: Gennady Timchenko, energy magnate; sanctioned March 24
• Seized in: Italy
• When: March 5
• Size: 215 ft.
• Value:  Up to $70 million
• Owned by: Alexei Mordashov, Russia's richest businessman; sanctioned Feb. 28
• When: March 7

Sailing Yacht A

• Size: 469 ft.
• Value: $580 million
• Owned by: Andrey Melnichenko, fertilizer magnate; sanctioned March 9
• Size: 279 ft.
• Value: $140 million
• Owned by: Sergey Chemezov, former KGB officer who heads Rostec, a Russian industrial and military conglomerate; sanctioned April 28
• Seized in: Spain
• When: March 14

Lady Anastasia

• Size: 157 ft.
• Owned by: Alexander Mikheyev, a former KGB officer who heads Rosoboronoexport, the Russian weapons exporting group; sanctioned March 15
• When: March 15
• Size: 443 ft.
• Value: $600 million
• Owned by: Unknown; Reuters  reports Igor Sechin is believed to be owner
• When: March 16

The Royal Romance

• Size: 302 ft.
• Value: $200 million
• Owned by: Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of Ukraine's main pro-Russia party; sanctioned Feb. 19
• Seized in: Croatia

The Little Bear

• Size: 56 ft.
• Value: $22 million
• Owned by: Alexey Kuzmichev, co-founder of Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private bank; sanctioned March 15
• Size: 236 ft.
• Value: $75 million
• Owned by: Dmitry Pumpyansky, owner of TMK, Russia's largest steel pipe maker; sanctioned March 15
• Seized in: Gibraltar, a British territory
• When: March 21

The Big Bear

• Size: 85 ft.
• Value: $77 million
• Size: 192 ft.
• Value: $50 million
• Owned by: Vitaly Vasilievich Kochetkov, founder of mobile network Motiv Telecom;  not on the UK sanctions list
• Seized in: Great Britain
• When: March 29
• Size: 255 ft.
• Value: $90 million
• Owned by: Viktor Vekselberg, who heads the Renova Group, a Russian conglomerate with interests in aluminum, oil, energy, telecoms and other industries; sanctioned March 11
• When: April 4

It's expensive to seize a yacht

"We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts , your luxury apartments, your private jets," President Joe Biden said while announcing sanctions in his State of the Union address March 1, addressing Russian oligarchs.

Seizing a yacht prevents an owner from using it. The impounding authority must first prove the yacht belongs to an oligarch, which is often difficult because many owners hide behind shell companies . Once ownership is established, the seized yacht must stay in port.

It also has to stay in the water. Most of the yachts are too big to be put in dry storage facilities. The 433-foot-long Crescent, for example, is almost half the length of the RMS Titanic .

Yacht owners are technically responsible for maintaining their ships even after they're seized. Such maintenance can cost millions of dollars  a year. Sometimes owners refuse to pay.

It's often unclear who pays for upkeep of the ships while legal battles are being fought. In France, for example, La Ciotat Shipyards said it doesn't know where to send mooring fees for the yacht Amore Vero.

Without maintenance, there's a risk of corrosion. Lengthy exposure can result in hull damage for neglected ships. Even long-term sunlight can weaken hatch and window seals and allow rain to enter.

If they sink, yachts can become environmental hazards .

What happens to seized yachts?

Any asset that is seized under sanction usually isn't confiscated. Yacht owners generally retain ownership, but their ships are confined to port and can't be moved or sold.

Governments must connect a seized asset to a crime  before the asset can be confiscated. Proving that oligarchs committed a crime and connecting their yachts to the crime could be difficult, according to legal scholars.

Oligarchs will likely fight in courts to reclaim their impounded vessels. Some court cases could last years.

In Congress, a bipartisan bill that would transfer seized Russian assets to Ukrainian rebuilding efforts was introduced by four members of the House on March 22.

40 other yachts are docked in limbo

Germany: The 512-foot yacht Dilbar, owned by Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov, hasn't been officially seized, but it remains in Hamburg and is not permitted to leave , Bloomberg reported March 2. The yacht is valued at $600 million.

Norway: The 223-foot yacht Ragnar also hasn't been seized, but it is stranded in Narvik after Norwegian suppliers refused to sell it fuel in mid-March. The yacht is owned by Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, a former KGB officer and confidant of Putin's.

Finland: The Finnish government is holding 21 luxury yachts , all in winter storage, while officials determine whether they're owned by Russian oligarchs. The detainment was reported on March 23. The government is also holding a 105-foot yacht believed to be owned by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev .

The Netherlands: The Dutch government impounded 14 Russian-owned yachts in shipyards around the country, Marine Industry News reported April 6. Twelve of them are under construction. The Netherlands is considered a global hub for yacht building and maintenance.

Italy: Authorities are trying to identify the owner of  the Scheherazade , a 460-foot yacht that may be owned by Putin. The ship, estimated to be worth $700 million, is docked in the town of Massa in Tuscany.

SOURCE USA TODAY Network reporting and research; Associated Press; Marine Industry News; superyachts.com

Why the U.S. put a $1 million bounty on a Russian yacht’s alleged manager

On Sept. 3, 2020, the staff of a $90 million yacht placed an order with a U.S. company for a set of luxury bathrobes that came to $2,624.35.

For roughly two years before that, according to federal prosecutors, the yacht’s management had been falsely claiming it was working for a boat named “Fanta.” But the luxury bathrobes came embroidered with a monogram that, prosecutors said, revealed the yacht’s true identity: “Tango.”

That was a problem, officials say in court papers, because Tango was owned by a Russian billionaire under U.S. sanctions, and doing business on his behalf violated federal law.

Late last month, U.S. authorities unveiled a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and or conviction of the man they say was running the yacht staff and orchestrated the deception with the robes — Vladislav Osipov, 52, a Swiss-based businessman from Russia. In a new indictment , federal prosecutors say Osipov misled U.S. banks and companies into doing business with the Tango yacht despite the sanctions on the Russian owner, whom the Justice Department has identified as billionaire Viktor Vekselberg .

Osipov has denied the allegations. Osipov’s attorney has said that the government has failed to demonstrate that Vekselberg owned the yacht, and that its management was therefore not a sanctions violation.

The reward offer for Osipov reflects the latest stage in the evolution of the West’s broader financial war against Russia two years into the war in Ukraine, as the United States and its allies increasingly target intermediaries accused of enabling Russian oligarchs to circumvent sanctions.

Many Russians close to President Vladimir Putin have been under sanctions dating to 2014, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and sent proxy forces into that country’s eastern Donbas region. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Biden vowed to deal a “crushing blow” with a barrage of new sanctions on financial institutions, industries, business executives and others tied to the Kremlin. But roughly two years later, Russia’s economy has proved surprisingly resilient after the nation poured tens of billions of dollars into ramping up its military industry. Moscow has also worked around the sanctions, finding new third parties to supply it with critical military and industrial hardware, as well as countries beyond Europe to buy its oil.

Now, the West is trying to increase the reach of its sanctions by digging deeper into Russian supply chains. Late last month, the Treasury Department announced more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia , primarily on military and industrial suppliers. The Justice Department also announced charges against two U.S.-based “facilitators” of a Russian state banker who is under sanction, as well as the guilty plea of a dual national based in Atlanta who was accused of laundering $150 million through bank accounts and shell companies on behalf of Russian clients.

Prioritizing criminal charges against — and the arrests of — Western employees of Russia’s elites represents a new escalation of the U.S. financial war against Putin, experts say. One Moscow businessman, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said many influential Russians are concerned about the arrest of two associates of Andrey Kostin, the head of VTB, Russia’s second-biggest state bank. These associates, Vadim Wolfson and Gannon Bond, were charged with helping Kostin evade sanctions by maintaining a $12 million property in Aspen, Colo., for Kostin’s benefit while concealing his ownership. Kostin has said that the charges of sanctions evasion against him are “unfounded” and that he has not violated any laws . Bond has pleaded not guilty; Wolfson hasn’t made an initial court appearance yet.

Wolfson, also known as Vadim Belyaev, had been a Russian billionaire until the Russian government took over his bank in 2017. Bond, 49, is a U.S. citizen from Edgewater, N.J. For all Russians living abroad and working with people in Russia, the threat of criminal charges is a much more worrying prospect than the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department last month against hundreds of individuals and entities, the businessman said, in part because sanctions are far easier to dodge than criminal charges.

“What you have seen through today’s public announcements are our efforts at really targeting the facilitators who possess the requisite skill set, access, connections that allow the Russian war machine [and] the Russian elites to continually have access to Western services and Western goods,” David Lim, co-director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, which is tasked with enforcing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, told reporters last month.

Thad McBride, an international trade partner at the law firm Bass Berry & Sims, said the crackdown on intermediaries reflected the natural evolution of the U.S. sanctions campaign in response to Russian adjustments.

“It seems to me they have gone through a comprehensive list of the oligarchs, and you can debate whether or not it’s had a meaningful impact on the Russian war effort,” McBride said. “Because they’re getting smarter about who’s who, they’re finding other people who play meaningful roles in these transactions, even though they’re not showing up in the headlines.”

The charges against Osipov related to his alleged management of the Tango yacht illustrate the mounting potential consequences for people in Europe and the United States who attempt to do business with Russians targeted by Western allies, as well as the opaque structures allegedly employed by those seeking to evade sanctions.

With a net worth estimated by Forbes in 2021 at $9 billion, Vekselberg, 66, has long drawn scrutiny from the West — and sought to safeguard his wealth. He made his initial fortune in aluminum and oil in Russia’s privatization of the 1990s and then expanded into industrial and financial assets in Europe, the United States and Africa, with Putin’s blessing. In addition to the yacht, federal prosecutors say, Vekselberg acquired $75 million worth of properties, including apartments on New York’s Park Avenue and an estate in the Long Island town of Southampton.

Vekselberg, who declined to comment for this article, has not been criminally charged by the Justice Department. In a 2019 interview with the Financial Times, he denounced the sanctions as arbitrary and harmful for international business, saying he had been targeted just because he was Russian and rich and knows Putin.

In April 2018, the Treasury Department under the Trump administration sanctioned Vekselberg and six other Russian oligarchs as part of broader financial penalties over the Kremlin’s invasion of Crimea, support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Vekselberg was also targeted for his work for the Kremlin as chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, an attempt to create Russia’s version of the Silicon Valley — evidence that appeared to undermine the Russian businessman’s claims that he operated independently of the Kremlin.

But with Vekselberg’s payments monitored by U.S. banks, according to the federal indictment , Osipov used shell companies and intermediaries to avert the bite of sanctions. Vekselberg kept other major assets out of the reach of U.S. authorities by making use of the Treasury Department’s 50 percent ownership rule, which stipulates that it is illegal to transact with firms only if an owner under sanction controls more than 50 percent of the business.

For example, a month after Treasury imposed sanctions on Vekselberg in April 2018, his Renova Innovation Technologies sold its 48.5 percent stake in Swiss engineering giant Sulzer to Tiwel Holding AG, a group that is nevertheless still “beneficially owned” — meaning, owned in practice — by Vekselberg through Columbus Trust, a Cayman Islands trust, according to Sulzer’s corporate filing. Vekselberg’s longtime right-hand man at Renova, Alexei Moskov, replaced one of Vekselberg’s direct representatives on the board. Moskov told The Washington Post that he stepped down from all his executive positions at Renova Group in 2018 after U.S. sanctions were first imposed and from that moment ceased to be Vekselberg’s employee.

The attempts to circumvent the sanctions appear to have found some success in the U.S. legal system. Columbus Nova, a U.S.-based asset management fund controlling more than $100 million in assets in the U.S. financial and tech industry, is run by Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater. The firm battled for more than two years to lift a freeze on Columbus Nova’s assets, imposed by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control because of the sanctions on Vekselberg, and won, reaching a settlement agreement with the Treasury Department. After renaming itself Sparrow Capital LLC, Columbus Nova successfully argued that Intrater — not Vekselberg — owns the fund. Intrater argued that the company was 100 percent owned by U.S. citizens and that no individual or entity under sanction held any interest in it. Intrater said Columbus Nova had earned fees for managing investment funds owned by Renova. He said he had repeatedly told Treasury he would not distribute any funds to Vekselberg.

Now Osipov, the alleged manager of Vekselberg’s $90 million yacht, is attempting a similar argument as U.S. authorities seek his arrest on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violations of sanctions law.

The federal indictment states that the Tango was owned by a shell corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands that was in turn owned by several other companies. The Virgin Islands shell company, authorities say, was controlled by Osipov, who also served in senior roles for multiple companies controlled by Vekselberg. U.S. officials also say Vekselberg ultimately controlled the other companies that owned the Virgin Islands shell company.

According to the indictment, a Tango official instructed a boat management company in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to use a false name for the yacht — “Fanta” — to disguise its true identity from U.S. financial institutions and firms, which try to avoid doing business with an entity or person under sanction.

Working at Osipov’s direction, according to the indictment, employees for Tango bought more than $8,000 worth of goods for the yacht that were unwittingly but illegally processed by U.S. firms and U.S. financial institutions, including navigation software, leather basket magazine holders provided by a bespoke silversmith, and web and computing services. The management company running Tango, run by Osipov, also paid invoices worth more than $180,000 to a U.S. internet service provider, federal prosecutors say.

The Tango was seized by the FBI and Spanish authorities in the Mediterranean not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Osipov was first indicted last year. The owner of the Spanish yacht management company hired by Osipov, Richard Masters, 52, of Britain, was criminally charged last year by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal sanctions law. A request for comment sent to Masters’ firm was not returned.

But in recent court documents, Osipov’s attorney argues that the yacht was not more than 50 percent owned by Vekselberg, and that the government hasn’t demonstrated it was. Barry J. Pollack, an attorney at Harris, St. Laurent and Wechsler, also says the government never warned Osipov of its novel and “unconstitutional” application of federal sanctions law.

“The government points to no precedent that supports its extraordinary interpretation and cites no authority that allows the traditional rules of statutory construction to be turned on their head,” Pollack wrote in a defense filing. The filing adds: “[Osipov] is not a fugitive because he did not engage in any of the allegedly criminal conduct while in the United States, has never resided in the United States, did not flee from the United States, and has not concealed himself.”

Still, the State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has said it will provide up to $1 million for information leading to Osipov’s arrest, warning that he may visit Herrliberg, Switzerland; Majorca, Spain; or Moscow.

The case demonstrates the extent of the U.S. commitment to tighten the screws on those seen as aiding Russian elites, even if they themselves are not closely tied to the Kremlin.

“When DOJ levels legal action against an individual or entity, they have quite a bit of evidence, especially because the threshold to press charges for money-laundering and sanctions evasion is so high,” said Kim Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. “We’ve had quite a bit of experience targeting Russia directly, and what you’re starting to see is the U.S. go after the facilitators enabling sanctions evasion. That’s where the U.S. is focusing its efforts right now.”

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16 superyachts owned by Russian oligarchs

Western sanctions over moscow's invasion of ukraine led to many luxury vessels being detained in europe.

Two superyachts linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich were spotted on the Turkish coast on Tuesday, 'Eclipse' and 'My Solaris'. Mr Abramovich is among several wealthy Russians added to an EU blacklist as governments act to seize their yachts and other luxury assets. AP

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

Several luxury yachts owned by wealthy Russians have been detained across Europe this month.

It comes after the West imposed sanctions on oligarchs over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine .

Some have taken evasive action – two such superyachts linked to billionaire Roman Abramovich were spotted approaching the Turkish coast on Tuesday. A group of Ukrainians tried to stop one of the yachts from docking in Turkey.

Chelsea FC owner Mr Abramovich is one of several oligarchs who were added to an EU blacklist last week as governments acted to seize yachts and other luxury assets owned by the billionaires.

Western sanctions resulted in many large vessels relocating from Europe in the past few weeks. Several have headed to places such as the Maldives, which have no extradition treaty with the US.

Where is the Abramovich-owned yacht heading?

Mr Abramovich's yacht Eclipse was seen heading towards Marmaris on Tuesday, according to data compiled by monitoring site Marine Traffic, which was seen by Reuters.

The previous day, his superyacht Solaris was moored in Bodrum, about 80 kilometres from Marmaris, data showed, after skirting waters of EU countries.

There was no suggestion Mr Abramovich was on board either of the yachts.

Ukrainians attempt to stop Abramovich's yacht docking in Turkey

Which yachts have been detained?

On Monday, a superyacht linked to another Russian billionaire was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar.

The Axioma , believed to belong to Dmitrievich Pumpyansky, moored at Gibraltar on the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, Reuters TV footage showed.

Mr Pumpyansky, who is under UK and EU sanctions, owns Russia's largest steel pipe maker TMK. Data shows the 72-metre vessel is owned by a British Virgin Islands holding company called Pyrene investments, Reuters reported. An article published as part of the Panama Papers leaks names Mr Pumpyansky as a beneficiary of the holding.

On March 12, the world's biggest sailing yacht, called Sailing Yacht A and owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko , was seized by Italian police.

Several other luxury yachts have also been detained across Europe, including in Gibraltar, Mallorca in Spain's Balearic Islands and the French coast.

Here are 16 superyachts linked to wealthy Russians

1. Eclipse , a superyacht linked to sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich , was this week spotted heading in the direction of Marmaris in Turkey.

2. Solaris , belonging to Mr Abramovich , moored in Bodrum at the start of the week.

3. The Axioma superyacht, belonging to Russian oligarch Dmitrievich Pumpyansky , who is on the EU's list of sanctioned Russians, was detained by authorities after docking in Gibraltar on Monday.

4. The Crescent , which was seized by the Spanish government in Tarragona, Spain, on March 17. The ship's owner is not publicly known, although it is believed to belong to Russian Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft Oil in Moscow.

5. Ragnar , owned by former KGB officer and Russian oligarch Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who is not on the EU sanctions list.

6. Tango , owned by Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned by the US on March 11.

7. Lady Anastasia , owned by Russian arms manufacturer Alexander Mijeev, is retained at Port Adriano, Mallorca, as a result of sanctions against Russia and Belarus issued by the European Union.

8. Valerie was seized by the Spanish government in Barcelona, Spain, on March 15. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the ship is linked to Rostec State Corporation’s chief executive Sergey Chemezov.

9. The $578 million Sailing Yacht A owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko was seized by Italian police in the port of Trieste on March 12.

10. The 156-metre Dilbar superyacht is owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.

11. La Datcha belongs to Russian billionaire businessman Oleg Tinkov.

12. Lady M , owned by Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, was seized by Italian police on March 5.

13. Amore Vero was seized in the Mediterranean resort of La Ciotat on March 3 by French authorities. The yacht is linked to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs the Russian oil giant Rosneft.

14. Quantum Blue , owned by a company linked to Russian billionaire Sergei Galitsky, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, was seized in southern France on March 3.

15. Superyacht Luna is owned by Russian billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov.

16. Triple Seven is owned by Russian billionaire Alexander Abramov, according to media reports. The yacht was last up for sale in 2020 for €38 million ($41.85 million).

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The superyacht world is speculating that Mark Zuckerberg just bought this 118-meter boat

• The 118-meter superyacht Launchpad made her maiden voyage last week.
• The yacht world is speculating that her owner is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
• Here's what we know about the luxury vessel.

In the world of superyachts , privacy is the most valuable asset. It can be next to impossible to discern the details of a superyacht transaction — and that's particularly true if the vessel in question is worth nine figures.

Yet some in the boat blogging world are speculating that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the new owner of Launchpad, a megayacht currently moored in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after she made her maiden voyage from Gibraltar to St Maarten last week. Launchpad clocks in at 118 meters long, about nine meters shorter than Jeff Bezos' superyacht Koru .

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"It is Feadship's standard policy to never divulge any information about our yachts with reference to ownership, costs, or delivery, etc," Feadship, the ship's builder, wrote to BI. "Whether it is an 18-meter Feadship from the 1960s or a 118-meter Feadship from the 21st century, we do not share private information."

But Zuckerberg's name has been connected to Launchpad for a few months now, beginning in December when reports swirled that he visited Feadship's shipyard in the Netherlands.

Then, earlier in March, yachting bloggers like eSysman SuperYachts and Autoevolution started speculating that he officially snagged the boat, originally built for a sanctioned Russian businessman, at a $300 million price tag. (While that's a seemingly huge amount, it's still less than 0.2% of Zuckerberg's $177 billion net worth.)

Another clue that might point to US ownership is that the yacht bears the flag of the Marshall Islands, a US territory and commonplace for American buyers to register their ships, according to public marine tracking.

If Zuckerberg were to have bought Launchpad, he would join a cohort of superyacht-owning tech billionaires . Along with Bezos, the likes of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison and Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have purchased impressive boats with even more impressive amenities.

SuperYacht Times , an industry publication and intelligence platform, has some of the best images of the yacht. Photos show a swimming pool on her main deck and a large helipad.

While less is known of the interior, a vessel of her size can likely sleep dozens of guests and crew and may have amenities like an expansive gym where Zuckerberg could practice his jiu-jitsu or a spa with a massage area. We suspect there's also space for plenty of toys — which could include his viral hydrofoil foil .

Do you have any details about Launchpad or any other superyachts? Email reporter Madeline Berg at [email protected].

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Private jet and yachts seized as three arrested in £76m luxury care homes raid

Three people have been arrested as part of a sting by the Serious Fraud Office into property developer the Carlauren Group.

Tuesday 12 March 2024 14:09, UK

A private jet and two yachts have been seized, as three people have been arrested, in a £76m raid on a group who ran luxury care homes.

Two sites were raided across St Leonard's, Dorset, and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, as part of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) probe, supported by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The investigation is looking into the UK registered property developer, the Carlauren Group, which collapsed into administration in November 2019.

When it folded, the SFO said that it led to some elderly residents being forced to move out, and left 600 investors out of pocket.

The Carlauren Group bought 23 properties across the UK, often former hotels including the historic Windlestone Hall in Durham, and allegedly claimed to offer annual 10 per cent returns to investors as it sought to turn the buildings into high-end care homes.

However, the SFO said only nine of these became operational and some continued as hotels instead of care homes.

Alongside that, the group allegedly purchased a number of supercars, including two Lamborghinis and a McLaren 570GT, a private jet and two yachts.

Nick Ephgrave QPM, director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: "This company's abrupt collapse has created turmoil and enormous anxiety for many, with elderly people forced to vacate their homes and investors left with nothing.

"Today's arrests are a major development in our investigation and a step towards getting the answers so many people need."

The group was said to have had 600 people and companies invest in the scheme through the purchase of rooms that were to be rented out to the elderly.

This was inside luxury facilities that boasted of swimming pools, room service and other amenities.

According to the SFO, the rooms were advertised and sold with a guaranteed annual payout and opportunity to sell the asset back for a profit after 10 years

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US has spent about $20 million to maintain superyacht seized from a Russian oligarch

T he US government is spending nearly $1 million a month to maintain a luxury superyacht seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch as part of the Justice Department’s effort to put pressure on the Kremlin.

The 348-foot Amadea was one of the first trophies prosecutors claimed as part of a task force effort to hold Russians friendly to the Kremlin accountable.

The superyacht was  seized  while docked in a port in Fiji in 2022 by local law enforcement officials and the FBI. US prosecutors allege its owner, Suleiman Kerimov, who made his fortune in gold, violated US sanctions by using the US banking system to cover expenses for the vessel. The yacht has been docked in San Diego.

Now, federal prosecutors have asked a judge for permission to sell the vessel saying its expenses are excessive and has cost the government about $20 million, according to recent court filings.

A recent appraisal values it at $230 million, according to the US Marshals Service.

“It is ‘excessive’ for taxpayers to pay nearly a million dollars per month to maintain the Amadea when these expenses, could be reduced to zero through interlocutory sale,” prosecutors wrote in a filing earlier this month .

The monthly costs total roughly $600,000 to maintain the yacht, plus $144,000 in insurance, according to court records. With occasional one-off fees to cover dry docking expenses it adds another $178,000 a month, placing the overall bill at $922,000 a month, the records said.

Eduard Khudainatov and Millemarin Investments came forward to claim the superyacht. They oppose the sale and said the judge shouldn’t allow it until their motion to dismiss the civil forfeiture complaint is decided.

They told the judge that they’ve “offered to reimburse the government for the costs it has incurred for maintaining the Amadea in exchange for its return. That offer stands. Maintaining the Amadea is certainly expensive, and Claimants never intended for U.S. taxpayers to shoulder that burden. But the wrongful decision to seize it was made by the government, knowing what the costs to American taxpayers would entail.”

Prosecutors said a decision on that motion could take many more months, racking up the bill to maintain the vessel.

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