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Russell 2000, dólar/libra, bitcoin usd, cmc crypto 200, yacht watch: 'one of the questions' for russian oligarchs going forward, according to a former cia officer.

The hits keep coming for Russian oligarchs, who are now on the receiving end of economic sanctions levied by Western countries in retaliation for Vladimir Putin’s invasion — a unilateral attack that put Russia's richest citizens under the microscope in the first place.

More than 50 high-profile individuals tied to Putin have been targeted with sanctions so far, and two yachts owned by Russian oligarchs are stuck in Western ports. Others are trying to hide their massive toys, though their options may be rather limited.

“One of the questions about all of this is: Where do you put all of these mega yachts?” former CIA officer and Yacht Watch columnist Alex Finley said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “There just are not that many ports in the world that can handle that many large yachts, particularly at the same time, and the facilities to take care of them because these are incredibly technological machines which require enormous amounts of service and upkeep and that know-how, and those services and shipyards are all here in Europe and the United States.”

The European Union (EU) and the U.S. levied sanctions against Russian assets in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to hundreds of civilian deaths in less than two weeks amid Russian shelling .

In his State of the Union address on March 1, President Biden addressed the oligarchs directly: “We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”

'These aren't quite seizures'

Authorities have been tracking these yachts closely, though many of the oligarchs are doing their best to stay under the radar.

Italian officials are holding the yacht owned by Alexey Mordashov, chairman of Russian steel and mining company Severstal, while French authorities impounded the superyacht of Igor Sechin, CEO of oil giant Rosneft.

When German officials honed in on the megayacht owned by Alisher Umanov, however, it was determined that the $600 million yacht’s ownership was tied to a holding company in Malta. This is one way yacht owners have been able to avoid the seizure of their property, given that the sanctions are specific to assets held by individuals.

“We had a few — I call them freezes — over the weekend,” Finley said, stressing that there hasn’t been a full crackdown just yet. “These aren't quite seizures because it's not like the boats are being confiscated and will be sold off. But at least for now, those yachts are being held and the owners and the crew are not allowed to approach them.”

Rather than try to hide their vessels somewhere in EU territory, many of these owners have had their yachts transported to other countries.

“Viktor Vekselberg, who is under sanctions in the United States, his yacht is currently in Palma de Mallorca here in Spain, but a lot of the other yachts have left and have started heading to various different places,” Finley said. “A number of them seem to be going to the Maldives or to the Seychelles or are already over in the Arabian Sea near Dubai.”

Several websites enable users to track the movements of yachts, such as VesselFinder.com and MarineTraffic.com. The caveat , though, is that the person controlling the yacht can turn off its tracking system if it wants to stay private.

Still, as Finley stressed, “even if they do get away, where do they go and how do these people manage to upkeep their boats when they don’t have access to those services?”

Adriana Belmonte is a reporter and editor covering politics and health care policy for Yahoo Finance. You can follow her on Twitter @adrianambells and reach her at [email protected].

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The Internet Sleuths Obsessively Tracking the Superyachts of Russian Oligarchs

‘Seizure of the yachts feels like a little bit of justice. It sends the message that these oligarchs have to pick a side: Support the dictator or support democracy’

For the first time in several years, Ben, a 36-year-old machinist in Michigan, hasn’t been pulling up Twitter first thing in the morning. Instead, he’s been checking MarineTraffic.com — an open, community-based website that tracks the real-time movement and location of ships — to see which yachts belonging to Russian billionaire oligarchs have been seized as a part of the economic sanctions placed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine. “I catch up on everything else later in the day,” he tells me. “But ever since they announced the sanctions, I can’t take my eyes away from #YachtWatch and MarineTraffic.” 

To be sure, a desire to know intimate details about billionaire yachts is nothing new. Within niche communities of maritime enthusiasts and professionals, these extraordinary yachts have always been followed and discussed in great detail. In fact, many yachts have their own Wikipedia pages , and websites like SuperYachtFan.com and SuperYachtTimes.com thrive on outlining the design, specs and ownership of these multi-million dollar vessels. But for the general public to become interested in the intricacies of billionaire yacht ownership and tracking is certainly new. 

To that end, Alex Finley, a former CIA officer turned author , had been researching oligarch yachts for her upcoming novel long before they caught the public’s eye. “I was already in tune with how the yachts and other assets play a role in Putin’s wider agenda,” she tells me. “But when I was kind of shitposting about Russian yachts on Twitter, no, I didn’t think it would turn into a crowdsourced global hunt for super yachts.” 

Good day #YachtWatch -ers. Yesterday morning, around 10am, Roman Abramovich’s other yacht [insert eye roll gif] Eclipse was tracked heading toward Gibraltar. She hasn’t pinged in about 8 hours. 1/ pic.twitter.com/cdlr6TH3rW — Alex Finley (@alexzfinley) March 11, 2022

Since creating the #YachtWatch hashtag, Finley says she’s seen the number of people like Ben who regularly check in on her updates of yacht seizures grow exponentially. “I’ve gained something like 20,000 followers in just a few days, and judging by the number of media inquiries, yeah, I guess people are interested,” she explains. 

And more than merely observe, certain people have made contributions that help improve the public’s ability to track and absorb complex maritime information. “Some mariners have helped explain some of the more technical aspects regarding AIS [ automatic identification system ] and navigation and facility infrastructure, for example,” Finley says. “Others have provided great encouragement, or remind me to sleep and hydrate, which I love.” 

Italy are still winning with an early brace, but still lots to play for. Straights of Gibraltar could prove a winning card for @RoyalNavy to get UK on the board, but a strategically timed US Transfer deal with the Maldives could beat everyone! #HuntForRedYachtober #YachtWatch https://t.co/yBOyI7cBSs — Charlie Moore (@c_moore) March 11, 2022

Elsewhere, members of the #YachtWatch community have created makeshift “BINGO” cards that show pictures of yachts along with the name of the Russian billionaire to whom they belong. Others, like Jack Sweeney , a college student who recently gained notoriety for tracking Elon Musk’s private jet, created their own Twitter accounts dedicated to the pursuit. In just over a week, his @RussianYachts account has amassed over 22,000 followers after posting information about yacht ownership and location updates. 

While I figure out more to track the yachts and choose the best solution. Here's a graphic made by @CNN of the latest locations of some of the yachts. pic.twitter.com/z9FgcJNiz2 — Russian Yachts (@RussiaYachts) March 7, 2022

Finley reckons that there’s a sense of “heightened” schadenfreude driving the massive public interest in superyacht seizures. They’re not just watching bad things happen to bad people, they’re watching people who “supported a dictator who started a totally unprovoked war” lose their toys. “These oligarchs have supported Putin’s efforts to destabilize the West and our democratic institutions, while at the same time taking advantage of those very same democratic institutions,” she says. “Seizing the yachts feels like a little bit of justice. It sends the message that these oligarchs have to pick a side: Support the dictator or support democracy. We won’t let you do both anymore.” 

Roman Abramovich's yacht Solaris looks to be heading to Montenegro, a popular place for Russian yachts. His even bigger superyacht Eclipse is in the Atlantic heading toward the Strait of Gibraltar per @MarineTraffic pic.twitter.com/o70Zzl7EEi — Mike Forsythe 傅才德 (@PekingMike) March 11, 2022

With that in mind, Finley argues that a lot of people “are getting into the hunt because they feel like they’re helping a just cause.” 

Plus, unlike most white-collar crime that gets prosecuted over the course of lengthy, closed-door legal battles, the seizure of superyachts has been swift and public. On March 3rd, French authorities took to Twitter to announce they had seized a 281-foot-long yacht belonging to Russian oligarch Igor Sechin. The $120 million vessel was in breach of the law after having attempted “to leave French territorial waters,” and was therefore seized and “immobilized” by French customs. 

Dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre des sanctions de l'Union européenne à l'encontre de la Russie et en soutien à l’Ukraine ?? nous avons procédé à la saisie d’un premier yacht. ➡️ L’Amore Vero est immobilisé en France. pic.twitter.com/ncr4UOP3OD — Olivier Dussopt (@olivierdussopt) March 3, 2022

But of all the major governments cracking down on Russian yachts so far, Ben says he’s rooting for the Italians the most. “It seems like they’re the ones who aren’t pussyfooting around, pardon my French,” he says. “I don’t know what happens to the seized properties after the fact, but I feel like the Italians could end up with an army of superyachts when this is all said and done.” 

So far, Italian authorities have officially seized at least two yachts belonging to Russia oligarchs Gennady Timchenko and Alexei Mordashov — Timchenko’s Lena, a 126-foot, $55-million beast , and Mordashov’s Lady M, a 213-foot, $71-million luxury monstrosity . 

Keeping watch on these Russian's Yacht's pic.twitter.com/BaZQeNyyKB — Russian Yachts (@RussiaYachts) March 6, 2022

According to the Washington Post , MarineTraffic.com “has seen a ‘huge spike’ in interest,” with traffic reaching “a level not seen since a massive ship got stuck in the Suez Canal one year ago.” Ben says he checks the site several times a day, working his way down the curated list of oligarch yachts he’s created there. “Right now I’m watching Clio , Tango , Palladium , Nirvana and Le Grand Bleu ,” he tells me. “Le Grand Bleu has been spinning in circles outside St. Martin for a few days now, so hopefully he runs out of fuel and is forced to make a decision soon.”

That’s when he’ll get the payoff he’s been waiting for: “The day I check my phone during a break and see one of my yachts being chased down or seized by government agents… I can’t even begin to imagine what that’ll feel like.” 

Ultimately, though, when it comes to social media-driven justice , particularly involving the rich and powerful, it’s nearly impossible to not be cynical. Is #YachtWatch just another fleeting #ResistanceTwitter saga, yacht seizures being the latest carrot dangled in front of a terminally logged-on population fruitlessly grasping for control as the world spirals toward nuclear war? Or, could the growing interest in tracking billionaire’s yachts actually lead to systemic change ? 

Melnichenko's $600,000,000 Yacht A is being seized in Italy: https://t.co/oYfVydcANQ — Scott Stedman (@ScottMStedman) March 12, 2022

For her part, Finley is hopeful that it’s the latter. “We arrived at this point in history partly because we in the West allowed a system that’s fueled both inequality and authoritarianism , all because businesses, politicians and the West in general were getting rich from it, too ,” she explains. “I hope the mega-yacht hunt might be a wake-up call that we need to reform the system and make it more transparent.” 

It’s certainly opened Ben’s eyes to the idea that wealth disparity isn’t merely a flaw in the system. “I’m not naive enough to think we don’t live in a world of haves and have-nots, but the sight of all those yachts, crowding around islands in the Caribbean like mayflies to a street lamp stopped me in my tracks,” he says. “It really struck me how they live in a different universe, where laws don’t exist.” 

Ben has “read everything about the tax-dodging leaks and money in the Cayman Islands,” but if it doesn’t go over his head, it just makes him feel powerless. “There’s nothing I can do about billionaires cheating the system — all these guys have gotten away with crimes because they’re billionaires,” he concludes. “But now that I know what can happen with transparency, I like to think this is the beginning of the end for them.” 

Quinn Myers

Quinn Myers is a staff writer at MEL. He reports on internet culture, technology, health, masculinity and the communities that flourish within.

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The U.S. seized Russian oligarchs' superyachts. Now, American taxpayers pay the price

Ayesha Rascoe

Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Stephanie Baker, senior writer at Bloomberg News, about the complications involved in seizing and maintaining superyachts owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

When the U.S. and its allies looked for ways to sanction the Russian elite, they zeroed in on their superyachts, filled with luxuries like heated pools and wine cellars. But as Stephanie Baker reports, the powerful symbolism of seizing a superyacht is followed by the expense of maintaining those pools and wine cellars and everything else aboard these floating palaces. Stephanie Baker is a senior writer at Bloomberg News, and she joins us now. Thanks for being with us.

STEPHANIE BAKER: Thanks for having me.

RASCOE: So you've written a series of articles on the West's seizure of these yachts from Russian oligarchs. What have you learned about what goes into maintaining these types of boats? Like, you can't just let them sit at the dock?

BAKER: No, it's not a case of turning off the lights, locking up the door and leaving them until the war in Ukraine is over. These things take an enormous amount of money to maintain. Even stuck in ports, they have to be staffed with a, you know, minimal crew to be on board in case of accidents, fires, fuel spills, the like. You know, for insurance purposes, insurance is another cost. They need to be washed so they don't entail a multimillion-dollar repaint job. And, you know, it's an incredibly costly process and complicated.

RASCOE: Is part of the issue they don't know what they're going to do with them?

BAKER: Well, in the case of the U.S., they have vowed to sell them eventually through a complicated process called forfeiture, where they have to go before a judge and prove that this superyacht has been bought with the proceeds of crime or involved in some kind of crime. And that is a lengthy, difficult process, especially in the case of Russian-linked superyachts because it's not always clear who the owner is. One forfeiture expert compared it to seizing the proceeds of a drug lord. A drug lord may not have his mansion in his own name. It would be in his girlfriend's name. So there's a long process to establish not who owns it on paper, but who's really controlling it, who's directing it, who's making decisions about it.

RASCOE: So when the U.S. or the EU seizes a yacht, the cost of maintaining that yacht - it actually goes to the taxpayers, right? Like, so how much money are we talking about that taxpayers are paying?

BAKER: It is U.S. taxpayers that are paying for it, at least until they do sell it and then can recoup the costs. Typically, it costs 10% of a superyacht's value to maintain it. But when it's frozen in port, the cost will obviously be less. It's not eating as much fuel by cruising at sea. I did a lot of reporting to try to establish, what are the real costs of keeping these things in port. And I came to a pretty conservative estimate of something like 3%. Now, in the case of one superyacht, the one that the U.S. government seized and sailed from Fiji to San Diego, I established that the annual costs of keeping that in port are about 10 million a year.

RASCOE: So 10 million a year. That's for one yacht?

BAKER: That's for one yacht.

RASCOE: For one yacht.

BAKER: And that's a conservative estimate.

RASCOE: OK. And so all together, do you have any sense of how much that might be?

BAKER: Well, globally, including the EU and the U.K. - they've seized more than 15 superyachts. And we're talking tens of millions. But if you're a sanctioned Russian oligarch with your asset frozen in a port, how long are you really going to pay? So we're looking at potentially years of litigation over these vessels about who's paying, you know, the maintenance. And they're essentially going to be in sort of legal purgatory for many years.

RASCOE: And so, I mean, most of us will never step foot on a superyacht. So it's hard for us to imagine. What is the most outrageous luxury that you've come across or one that, you know, really stood out to you?

BAKER: Right. So I went to the Monaco Yacht Show at the end of September and got on board one of the most luxurious, expensive superyachts. It was just the most incredible floating mansion. It had hand-painted bathrooms, handmade curved bar, a pool, elaborate bedrooms, you know, very high ceilings, multiple decks. They are the most extravagant status symbol, really, amongst the billionaire class.

RASCOE: That's Stephanie Baker, senior writer at Bloomberg News. Thank you so much.

BAKER: Thank you for having me.

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Money Report

Russian oligarch's yacht is costing US taxpayers close to $1 million a month

By robert frank,cnbc • published march 6, 2024 • updated on march 6, 2024 at 11:26 pm.

A mega-yacht seized by U.S. authorities from a Russian oligarch is costing the government nearly $1 million a month to maintain, according to new court filings.

• The Justice Department is seeking permission to sell Amadea, which it seized in 2022, alleging that it was owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov.
• Attorneys for Eduard Khudainatov, an ex-Rosneft CEO who has not been sanctioned, say he owns the yacht, and have sought to take back possession of the vessel.

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking permission to sell a 348-foot yacht called Amadea, which it seized in 2022, alleging that it was owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov. The government said it wants to sell the $230 million yacht due to the "excessive costs" of maintenance and crew, which it said could total $922,000 a month.

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"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 [a] sale," according to a court filing by U.S. prosecutors on Friday.

The monthly charges for Amadea, which is now docked in San Diego, California, include $600,000 per month in running costs: $360,000 for the crew; $75,000 for fuel; and $165,000 for maintenance, waste removal, food and other expenses. They also include $144,000 in monthly pro-rata insurance costs and special charges including dry-docking fees, at $178,000, bringing the total to $922,000, according to the filings.

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The battle over Amadea and the costs to the government highlight the financial and legal challenges of seizing and selling assets owned by Russian oligarchs after the country's invasion of Ukraine. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that the European Union should use profits from more than $200 billion of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine's war effort.

Her comments echoed government calls in the spring of 2022 to freeze the yachts, private jets and mansions of Russian billionaires in hopes of putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and raising money for the war effort.

Yet, nearly two years later, the legal process for proving ownership of the Russian assets and selling them has proven to be far more time-consuming and costly. In London, Russian billionaire Eugene Shvidler has waged a court battle over his private jets that were impounded, and Sergei Naumenko has been appealing the detention of his superyacht Phi.

The battle over Amadea began in April 2022, when it was seized in Fiji at the request of the U.S. government, according to the court filings.

Though the U.S. alleges that the yacht is owned by Kerimov, who made his fortune in mining, attorneys for Eduard Khudainatov, an ex-Rosneft CEO who has not been sanctioned, say he owns the yacht, and have sought to take back possession of the vessel.

In court filings, Khudainatov's attorneys have objected to the U.S. government's efforts to sell the yacht, saying a rushed sale could lead to a distressed sale price and that the maintenance costs are minor relative to the potential sale value.

Khudainatov's attorneys refuse to pay the ongoing maintenance costs as long as the government pursues a sale and forfeiture. However, they say their client will reimburse the U.S. government for the more than $20 million already spent to maintain the yacht if it's returned to its proper owner.

In court papers, the government says Kerimov disguised his ownership of Amadea through a series of shell companies and other owners. They say emails between crew members show Kerimov "was the beneficial owner of the yacht, irrespective of the titleholder of the vessel."

The emails show that Kerimov and his family ordered several interior improvements of the yacht, including a new pizza oven and spa, and that between 2021 and 2022, when the boat was seized, "there were no guest trips on the Amadea that did not include either Kerimov or his family members," according to the court filings.

The government also says Kerimov has been trying to sell Amadea for years, so a sale would be in keeping with his intent.

"This is not a situation in which a court would be ordering sale of a precious heirloom that a claimant desperately wishes to keep for sentimental reasons," the government said in filings.

Even if Amadea were sold quickly, the proceeds wouldn't automatically go to the government. Under law, the money would be held while Khudainatov and the government continue their battle in court over the ownership and forfeiture. Don't miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

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U.S. seizes mega yacht owned by oligarch with close ties to Putin

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain — The U.S. government seized a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president on Monday, the first in the government’s sanctions enforcement initiative to “seize and freeze” giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites .

Spain’s Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the yacht at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat on Monday morning.

The seizure was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter. The people could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity. A Spanish Civil Guard spokesman confirmed that officers from the Spanish police body and from the FBI were at the marina searching the vessel Monday morning and said further details would be released later.

A Civil Guard source told The Associated Press that the immobilized yacht is Tango, a 78-meter (254-feet) vessel that carries Cook Islands flag and that  Superyachtfan.com , a specialized website that tracks the world’s largest and most exclusive recreational boats, values at $120 million. The source was also not authorized to be named in media reports and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.

The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities.

The move is the first time the U.S. government has seized an oligarch’s yacht since Attorney General Merrick Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs — as an effort to enforce sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

Vekselberg has long had ties to the U.S. including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminum and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.

Vekselberg was also questioned in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has worked closely with his American cousin, Andrew Intrater, who heads the New York investment management firm Columbus Nova.

Vekselberg and Intrater were thrust into the spotlight in the Mueller probe after the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova to a shell company set up by Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg played any role in its payments to Cohen.

Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump’s inner circle and high-level Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition.

The 64-year-old mogul founded Renova Group more than three decades ago. The group holds the largest stake in United Co. Rusal, Russia’s biggest aluminum producer, among other investments.

Vekselberg was first sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, and again in March of this year, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Vekselberg has also been sanctioned by authorities in the United Kingdom.

The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a sanctions enforcement task force known as KleptoCapture , which also aims to enforce financial restrictions in the U.S. imposed on Russia and its billionaires, working with the FBI, Treasury and other federal agencies. That task force will also target financial institutions and entities that have helped oligarchs move money to dodge sanctions.

The White House has said that many allied countries, including German, the U.K, France, Italy and others are involved in trying to collect and share information against Russians targeted for sanctions. In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden warned oligarch that the U.S. and European allies would “find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”

“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” he said.

Wednesday’s capture is not the first time Spanish authorities have been involved in the seizure of a Russian oligarch’s superyacht. Officials there said they had seized a vessel valued at over $140 million owned by the CEO of a state-owned defense conglomerate and a close Putin ally.

French authorities have also seized superyachts, including one believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Italy has also seized several yachts and other assets.

Italian financial police moved quickly seizing the superyacht “Lena” belonging to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Putin, in the port of San Remo; the 65-meter (215-foot) “Lady M” owned by Alexei Mordashov in nearby Imperia, featuring six suites and estimated to be worth 65 million euros; as well as villas in Tuscany and Como, according to government officials.

Para reported from Madrid and Balsamo reported from Washington.

Superyacht owned by oligarch with close ties to Putin seized by U.S.

Linked to billionaire viktor vekselberg, tango is a 78-metre vessel valued at $120m us.

Social Sharing

The U.S. government seized a mega yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to the Russian president on Monday, the first in the government's sanctions enforcement initiative to "seize and freeze" giant boats and other pricey assets of Russian elites.

Spain's Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the yacht at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain's Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat on Monday morning.

A Civil Guard source told The Associated Press that the immobilized yacht was the Tango, a 78-metre vessel that carries a Cook Islands flag and that Superyachtfan.com, a specialized website that tracks the world's largest and most exclusive recreational boats, set its value at $120 million US.

The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg's assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed the seizure in a statement released by the Justice Department, which estimated the value of the vessel as "at least $90 million."

"Today marks our task force'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 Garland. "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."

Vekselberg familiar to U.S. officials

Garland and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs — as an effort to enforce sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

Vekselberg has long had ties to the U.S. including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminum and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.

Vekselberg was also questioned in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has worked closely with his American cousin, Andrew Intrater, who heads the New York investment management firm Columbus Nova.

Vekselberg and Intrater were thrust into the spotlight in the Mueller probe after the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 US in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova to a shell company set up by Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg played any role in its payments to Cohen.

Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump's inner circle and high-level Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition.

The 64-year-old mogul founded Renova Group more than three decades ago. The group holds the largest stake in United Co. Rusal, Russia's biggest aluminum producer, among other investments.

Vekselberg was first sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, and again in March of this year, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Vekselberg has also been sanctioned by authorities in the United Kingdom.

• Q&A How an ex-CIA agent is tracking the luxurious superyachts of Russian oligarchs
• Targeting super yachts owned by Russian oligarchs could hit a nerve in Moscow

The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a sanctions enforcement task force known as KleptoCapture, which also aims to enforce financial restrictions in the U.S. imposed on Russia and its billionaires, working with the FBI, Treasury and other federal agencies. That task force will also target financial institutions and entities that have helped oligarchs move money to dodge sanctions.

"Today's seizure of Viktor Vekselberg's yacht, the Tango, in Spain is the result of an unprecedented multinational effort to enforce U.S. sanctions targeting those elites who have enabled Russia's unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine," said Andrew Adams, director of that task force. "For those who have tied their fortunes to a brutal and lawless regime, today's action is a message that those nations dedicated to the rule of law are equally dedicated to separating the oligarchs from their tainted luxuries."

The White House has said that many allied countries, including Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and others are involved in trying to collect and share information against Russians targeted for sanctions. In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden warned oligarchs that, "we are coming for your ill-begotten gains."

Other yachts seized

Monday's capture is not the first time Spanish authorities have been involved in the seizure of a Russian oligarch's superyacht. Officials there said they had seized a vessel valued at over $140 million US owned by the CEO of a state-owned defence conglomerate and a close Putin ally.

French authorities have also seized superyachts, including one believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

$90 Million Yacht of Sanctioned Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg Seized by Spain at Request of United States <a href="https://t.co/plLXnHXdoU">https://t.co/plLXnHXdoU</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DOJPH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOJPH</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIMinneapolis?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBIMinneapolis</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/HSINewYork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HSINewYork</a> &mdash; @USAO_DC

Italy has also seized several yachts and other assets.

Italian financial police moved quickly seizing the superyacht Lena belonging to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Putin, in the port of San Remo; the 65-metre Lady M owned by Alexei Mordashov in nearby Imperia, featuring six suites and estimated to be worth 65 million euros; as well as villas in Tuscany and Como, according to government officials.

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US seizes yacht owned by oligarch with close ties to Putin

A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

Civil Guards accompany U.S. FBI agents and a U.S.Homeland Security agent from the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A U.S. federal agent leaves the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A Civil Guard officer accompanies a U.S.Homeland Security agent and an FBI agent from the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A U.S. federal agent and two Civil Guards board the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

Civil Guards stand by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A U.S. federal agent walks past two Civil Guards on the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

Civil Guards officers accompany identified people from the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

A Civil Guard and a police dog walk off the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain’s Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg’s assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

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PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — The U.S. government on Monday seized a 254-foot yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a first by the Biden administration under sanctions imposed after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine and targeting pricey assets of Russian elites .

Spain’s Civil Guard and U.S. federal agents descended on the Tango at the Marina Real in the port of Palma de Mallorca, the capital of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Associated Press reporters at the scene saw police going in and out of the boat.

The U.S. Justice Department, which obtained a warrant from a federal judge in Washington, alleges the yacht should be forfeited for violating U.S. bank fraud, money laundering and sanctions statutes.

Superyachtfan.com, a specialized website that tracks the world’s largest and most exclusive recreational boats, values the 78-meter vessel, which carries the Cook Islands flag, at $120 million.

The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg , a billionaire and close Putin ally who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents.

All of Vekselberg’s assets in the United States are frozen and American companies are barred from doing business with him and his entities. The Ukrainian-born businessman built his fortune by investing in the aluminum and oil industries in the post-Soviet era.

Prosecutors allege Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and has owned it since then, though they believe he has used shell companies to try to obfuscate his ownership and to avoid financial oversight.

They contend Vekselberg and those working for him continued to make payments using U.S. banks to support and maintain the yacht, even after sanctions were imposed on him in 2018. Those payments included a stay in December 2020 at a luxury water villa resort in the Maldives and fees to moor the yacht.

It’s the first U.S. seizure of an oligarch’s yacht since U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs — as an effort to enforce sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.

“It will not be the last.” Garland said 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.”

Vekselberg has long had ties to the U.S., including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. He was also questioned in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and has worked closely with his American cousin, Andrew Intrater, who heads the New York investment management firm Columbus Nova.

Vekselberg and Intrater were thrust into the spotlight in that investigation after the lawyer for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova to a shell company set up by Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg played any role in its payments to Cohen.

Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump’s inner circle and high-level Russians during Trump’s 2016 campaign and the transition before his presidency.

The 64-year-old Vekselberg founded Renova Group more than three decades ago. The group holds the largest stake in United Co. Rusal, Russia’s biggest aluminum producer, among other investments.

Vekselberg was first sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018, and again in March of this year, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Vekselberg has also been sanctioned by authorities in the United Kingdom.

The yacht sails under the Cook Islands flag and is owned by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands administered by different societies in Panama, the Civil Guard said, “following a complicated financial and societal web to conceal its truthful ownership.”

Agents confiscated documents and computers inside the yacht that will be analyzed to confirm he real identity of the owner, it said.

The U.S. Justice Department has also launched a sanctions enforcement task force known as KleptoCapture, which also aims to enforce financial restrictions in the U.S. imposed on Russia and its billionaires, working with the FBI, the U.S. Treasury and other federal agencies. That task force will also target financial institutions and entities that have helped oligarchs move money to dodge sanctions.

The White House has said that many allied countries, including German, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and others are involved in trying to collect and share information against Russians targeted for sanctions. In his State of the Union address on March 1, President Joe Biden warned oligarchs that the U.S. and European allies would “find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets.”

“We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” he said.

Monday’s capture is not the first time Spanish authorities have been involved in the seizure of a Russian oligarch’s superyacht. Officials said they had seized a vessel valued at over $140 million owned by the CEO of a state-owned defense conglomerate and a close Putin ally.

French authorities have seized superyachts, including one believed to belong to Igor Sechin, a Putin ally who runs Russian oil giant Rosneft, which has been on the U.S. sanctions list since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Italy has seized several yachts and other assets.

Italian financial police moved quickly seizing the superyacht Lena belonging to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Putin, in the port of San Remo; the 65-meter (215-foot) Lady M owned by Alexei Mordashov in nearby Imperia, featuring six suites and estimated to be worth 65 million euros; as well as villas in Tuscany and Como, according to government officials.

Parra reported from Madrid and Balsamo reported from Washington.

Watch CBS News

U.S. seizes mega yacht owned by oligarch who's close to Putin

By Robert Legare

Updated on: April 5, 2022 / 9:24 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington  — American and Spanish law enforcement agents took control of the mega yacht Tango anchored in the luxurious Spanish island of Palma de Mallorca on Monday after the U.S. Justice Department obtained a warrant for the $90-million vessel's seizure.

The warrant and subsequent raid targeted Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2018 and again last month following Russia's deadly invasion of Ukraine. The financial penalties blocked the billionaire from participating in the U.S. economy and prevented him from utilizing American banks to conduct business transactions. 

According to the Justice Department's warrant , dating as far back as 2011, Vekselberg and other unnamed conspirators attempted to avoid detection in the U.S. by paying for the yacht through shell companies and other money laundering techniques. 

"Vekselberg and those acting on his behalf and for his benefit caused U.S. dollar transactions for the Tango to be sent through U.S. financial institutions, after a time which Vekselberg was designated by the Treasury Department," the warrant unsealed Monday alleges.

The Tango, designed and built exclusively for the oligarch, who has an estimated net worth of $6 billion, had been sent to Spain for repair. Investigators say the Spanish government then alerted the Justice Department to its whereabouts on March 13. 

Prosecutors in Spain obtained a "freezing" order on the vessel, paving the way for FBI and other American law enforcement agents to seize the ship. 

Monday's operation was part of the Justice Department's new Task Force KleptoCapture, an interagency law enforcement group aimed at holding sanctioned Russian elites accountable, as Russia continues its aggressive invasion of Ukraine. 

"Today marks our task force's first seizure of an asset belonging to a sanctioned individual with close ties to the Russian regime. It will not be the last," Attorney General Merrick Garland said Monday. "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 Associated Press noted 64-year-old Vekselberg, who was born in Ukraine, has long had ties to the U.S., including a green card he once held and homes in New York and Connecticut. He's the main owner of the Renova Group, a global conglomerate he founded 30 years ago which is based in Moscow with major assets in mining, technology and utilities. He has stakes in several technology companies and in Rusal, Russia's biggest aluminum producer.

Vekselberg and his cousin, Andrew Intrater, were investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller after the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels released a memo that claimed $500,000 in hush money was routed through Columbus Nova, an investment company run by Intrater and reportedly affiliated with Renova , to a shell company set up by former President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, according to the Associated Press. Columbus Nova denied that Vekselberg, who was Intrater's biggest investor, played any role in its payments to Cohen. Vekselberg and Intrater met with Cohen at Trump Tower, one of several meetings between members of Trump's inner circle and high-level Russians during the 2016 campaign and transition. Mueller did not mention Vekselberg or Intrater in his final report.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that neither Vekselberg nor Intrater were mentioned in special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, as well as to note some of Vekselberg's other holdings.  

Robert Legare is a CBS News multiplatform reporter and producer covering the Justice Department, federal courts and investigations. He was previously an associate producer for the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell."

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Italian Police Seize Russian Oligarch Andrey Melnichenko’s 468-Foot ‘Sailing Yacht A’

The list keeps growing with the impoundment of "sailing yacht a" and suspicion that "scheherazade" might be connected to vladimir putin., michael verdon, michael verdon's most recent stories.

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Italy’s finance police seized one of the world’s most iconic sailing yachts, owned by a Russian oligarch. Andrey Melnichenko’s Sailing Yacht A , with an estimated value of $578 million, was impounded in dry dock at the Port of Trieste, according to a statement from the Guardia di Finanzia. Melninchenko was sanctioned by the European Union on March 9 as part of a group of Russian oligarchs who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin following its Ukraine invasion to discuss the potential economic impact of EU and American sanctions.

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Melnichenko owns the major fertilizer producer EuroChem Group and SUEK, a coal company. He also owns the 390-foot Motor Yacht A. A spokesperson said in a statement that Melnichenko has nothing to do with politics and that he has removed himself from the board of Eurochem and SUEK after the EU sanctioned him. “He has no relation to the tragic events in Ukraine. He has no political affiliations,” said the statement.

US intelligence officials have also said they are trying to link the Scheherazade , a $700 million superyacht in dry dock in Italy, to Putin. The New York Times reported that the US government has made no definite conclusions about the yacht’s ownership, but believe it could be owned by the Russian president. The yacht’s captain, Guy Bennett-Pearce, told the Times that Putin had no stake in the yacht, but declined to name the owner. Bennett-Pearce said he would provide Italian police with documents that divulged the owner’s name. The Italian Sea Group, which owns the shipyard where Scheherazade is dry docked, said that, based on “checks carried out by relevant authorities,” the yacht is “not attributable to the property of Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Roman Abramovich, who owns Solaris. last week was placed on the UK sanctions list.  Courtesy of Lloyd Werft

Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was also added to the UK sanctions list days after he announced the sale of the football club. Abramovich, who owns a string of supercars and several private jets, also owns the superyachts Solaris and Eclipse. Solaris is reportedly sailing towards Israel, where Abramovich has dual citizenship.

On March 3, France’s finance ministry said that it had impounded Amore Vero , a yacht owned by Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian oil giant Rosneft. The EU had sanctioned Sechin earlier that week, calling him one of Putin’s “most trusted and closest advisors, as well as his personal friend.” German authorities also detained the 512-foot superyacht Dilbar in Hamburg, owned by Alisher Usmanov. Reports said the crew was fired last week. On March 5, Italian authorities impounded two yachts, Lena and Lady M , owned by Gennady Timchenko and Alexei Mordashov, respectively.

On Friday, the US State Department placed Viktor Vekselberg on its sanctions list. Two of Vekeselberg’s luxury assets, an Airbus A319-115 jet and his yacht Tango , were identified as “blocked property.”

The superyacht Scheherazade was impounded in Italy during an investigation to uncover whether it is owned by Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Video Still/YT

The seizures have prompted the superyacht industry to distance itself from the oligarchs. Italian yacht builders Sanlorenzo and Azimut both released statements that they have limited exposure to Russian clients, and none are on the sanctions list. Heesen Yachts released a statement that two Russians sitting on its supervisory board of directors have resigned their positions. The builder said Heesen is 100-percent Dutch-owned company and that Pavel Sukhoruchkin and Pavel Novoselov had nothing to do with its day-to-day operations.

Ownership of many Russian yachts is often hidden by shell companies in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. They are not only hard to trace, but actually seizing and selling them could present a legal quagmire that could take years to resolve.

Some are wondering whether seizing the oligarchs’ private yachts and jets will work. “Sanctions are another example of the West doing what it does best, which is just throwing a lot of cash at the problem and hoping it gets solved,” Olga Chyzh, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, told the Washington Post. “However sad they are to let go of their Western assets, oligarchs have even more to lose if Putin is no longer there to protect them.”

Eclipse is another yacht owned by Roman Abramovich.  Robb Report File

In the meantime, some oligarchs are taking their yachts to destinations like the Maldives , the Seychelles and Dubai, which have no extradition treaties with the US and EU. Dubai has become a favorite destination for Russian tourism and wealth.

Alex Finley, a former CIA officer, has been tracking the yachts from Barcelona. Using the hashtag “Yacht Watch,” she posts updates on Twitter for Russian-owned superyachts.

“For me, the yachts are a big, easily recognizable symbol of the more serious side of this [Russian invasion]: These are people who support a dictator, and have been supporting him in carrying out destabilization operations against democracy, while at the same time coming here and taking all the benefits of the exact same democracies they were destabilizing,” Finley told the Washington Post.

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#YachtWatch: Oligarchs Triumph in Courts (So Far)

Welcome to Whale Hunting, a weekly newsletter delving into the hidden worlds of wealth and power. This week contributor Alex Finley revives her #YachtWatch franchise to catch up on how a number of Russian tycoons are using legal tools to stop Western efforts to seize their assets in the aftermath

Welcome to Whale Hunting, a weekly newsletter delving into the hidden worlds of wealth and power. This week contributor Alex Finley revives her #YachtWatch franchise to catch up on how a number of Russian tycoons are using legal tools to stop Western efforts to seize their assets in the aftermath of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Last September, 250 German police officers fanned out across the country raiding villas and other properties belonging to Alisher Usmanov, a Russian oligarch who made his fortune from the ashes of the Soviet Union, building up an estimated wealth of $14.3 billion . Another 60 officials from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and tax authorities raided Dilbar , Usmanov’s 156-meter megayacht worth an estimated $600 million.

Authorities seized millions of dollars-worth of art and caches of documents. It looked like a massive haul of evidence for a money laundering investigation the state had launched against the oligarch, who was sanctioned by the European Union last year as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But last month a German court declared those search warrants were unlawful. The ruling marked a big win for Usmanov, who has joined a chorus of other Russian oligarchs aiming to use the free world’s rule of law and stable justice systems to get back their assets that were seized by governments claiming they were corruptly acquired using Russia’s crony kleptocracy.

Home News Highlights Best of the Week Tip and teamwork deliver scoop on seizure of oligarch’s yacht

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Tip and teamwork deliver scoop on seizure of oligarch’s yacht

A Civil Guard stands by the yacht called Tango in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, Monday April 4, 2022. U.S. federal agents and Spain's Civil Guard are searching the yacht owned by a Russian oligarch. The yacht is among the assets linked to Viktor Vekselberg, a billionaire and close ally with Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who heads the Moscow-based Renova Group, a conglomerate encompassing metals, mining, tech and other assets, according to U.S. Treasury Department documents. All of Vekselberg's assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies are forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. (AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla)

By Michael Balsamo, Aritz Parra and Francisco Ubilla

Lead Department of Justice reporter Michael Balsamo, Madrid chief correspondent Aritz Parra and freelance multiformat journalist Francisco Ubilla put the AP so far ahead on the seizure of a Russian oligarch’s yacht in Spain, competitors didn’t catch up until hours later — and they still had to use AP visuals to accompany their stories.

As part of AP’s broader coverage of the war in Ukraine, Balsamo had been examining what the federal government was doing to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Well-sourced Balsamo got his break when he was tipped that U.S. authorities were working with their counterparts in Spain to seize a $120 million yacht — almost as long as a football field — belonging to a billionaire friend of Putin.

Balsamo immediately alerted colleagues in Europe and eventually Spain. Parra joined in the hunt and confirmed more information on when the seizure would take place and which yacht was being targeted. That put Ubilla on the scene reporting and making images as authorities boarded the ship,giving AP a front row seat to the first U.S. seizure of an oligarch’s yacht since the U.S. assembled a task force known as REPO — short for Russian Elites,Proxies and Oligarchs — as an effort to enforce sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The all-formats piece was one of AP’s most-read stories of the day; it was hours before competitors could report the basics using the federal government’s press announcement. Even then they still had to rely on Ubilla’s images,which played widely in broadcast, print and online.

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Apr. 15, 2022

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From Russia, Elaborate Tales of Fake Journalists

As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online to discredit Ukraine’s leader and undercut aid. Some have a Hollywood-style plot twist.

Credit... Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times

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By Steven Lee Myers

• Published March 18, 2024 Updated March 19, 2024, 4:31 p.m. ET

A young man calling himself Mohamed al-Alawi appeared in a YouTube video in August. He described himself as an investigative journalist in Egypt with a big scoop: The mother-in-law of Ukraine’s president had purchased a villa near Angelina Jolie’s in El Gouna, a resort town on the Red Sea.

The story, it turned out, was not true. Ukraine denied it, and the owner of the villa refuted it. Also disconnected from reality: Alawi’s claim to being a journalist.

Still, his story caromed through social media and news outlets from Egypt to Nigeria and ultimately to Russia — which, according to researchers, is where the story all began.

The story seemed to fade, but not for long. Four months later, two new videos appeared on YouTube. They said Mohamed al-Alawi had been beaten to death in Hurghada, a town about 20 miles south of El Gouna. The suspected killers, according to the videos: Ukraine’s secret service agents.

These claims were no more factual than the first, but they gave new life to the old lie. Another round of posts and news reports ultimately reached millions of internet users around the world, elevating the narrative so much that it was even echoed by members of the U.S. Congress while debating continued military assistance to Ukraine.

Ever since its forces invaded two years ago , Russia has unleashed a torrent of disinformation to try to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West.

This saga, though, introduced a new gambit: a protracted and elaborately constructed narrative built online around a fictitious character and embellished with seemingly realistic detail and a plot twist worthy of Netflix.

“They never brought back a character before,” said Darren Linvill, a professor and director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, who has extensively studied Russian disinformation.

The campaign shows how deftly Russia’s information warriors have shifted to new tactics and targets as the war in Ukraine has dragged on, just as Russian forces on the ground in Ukraine have adjusted tactics after devastating battlefield losses.

Groups with ties to the Kremlin continue to float new narratives when old ones fail to stick or grow stale, using fake or altered videos or recordings and finding or creating new outlets to spread disinformation, including ones purporting to be American news sites .

A video appeared on TikTok last month claiming to show a Ukrainian doctor working for Pfizer accusing the company of conducting unlawful tests on children. On the social network X, a man claiming to be an associate producer for Paramount Pictures spun a tale about a Hollywood biopic on Mr. Zelensky’s life.

The tale attributed to Mohamed al-Alawi is not even the only baseless allegation that Mr. Zelensky had secretly purchased properties abroad using Western financial assistance. Other versions — each seemingly tailored for a specific geographic audience — have detailed a mansion in Vero Beach, Fla., and a retreat in Germany once used by Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of propaganda.

The Russians have “demonstrated adaptability through the war on Ukraine,” Microsoft wrote in a recent report that disclosed Russia’s fraudulent use of recorded messages by famous actors and celebrities on the Cameo app to try to smear Mr. Zelensky as a drug addict.

Even when debunked, fabrications like these have proved exceedingly difficult to extinguish entirely.

YouTube took down the initial video of the character Mohamed al-Alawi, linking it to two other accounts that had previously violated the company’s policies. The accusation still circulates, however, especially on platforms, like X and Telegram, that experts say do little to block accounts generating inauthentic or automated activity. Some of the posts about the video appear to have used text or audio created with artificial intelligence tools; many are amplified by networks of bots intended to create the impression that the content is popular.

What links the narratives to Russia is not only the content disparaging Ukraine but also the networks that circulate them. They include news outlets and social media accounts that private and government researchers have linked to previous Kremlin campaigns.

“They’re trolling for a susceptible (and seemingly abundant) slice of citizens who amplify their garbage enough to muddy the waters of our discourse, and from there our policies,” said Rita Katz, the director of the SITE Intelligence Group, an American company that tracks extremist activity online and investigated the false claims about the villa.

The Making of a Fake Journalist

The video first appeared on Aug. 20 on a newly created YouTube account that had no previous activity and almost no followers, according to the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, a global nonprofit research organization in London, which traced the video’s spread.

The man appeared in a poorly lit room reading from his computer screen, which was reflected in his thick glasses. He appeared to be a real person, but it has not been possible to verify his actual identity. No one by the name of Mohamed al-Alawi appears to have produced any previous articles or videos, as would be expected of a journalist. According to ActiveFence, an internet security company, the character has no educational or work history, and no network of friends or social connections online.

The video, though, showed what purported to be photographs of a purchase contract and of the villa itself, creating a veneer of authenticity for credulous viewers. The property is, in fact, part of a resort owned by Orascom Development, whose website highlights El Gouna’s “year-round sunshine, shimmering lagoons, sandy beaches and azure waters.”

An article about the video’s claim appeared two days later as a paid advertisement, or branded content, on Punch, a news outlet in Nigeria, as well as three other Nigerian websites that aggregate news and entertainment content.

The article had the byline of Arthur Nkono, who according to internet searches does not appear to have written any other articles. The article quoted a political scientist, Abdrulrahman Alabassy, who likewise appears not to exist except in accounts linking the villa to the corrupt use of Western financial aid to Ukraine. (Punch, which later removed the post, did not respond to requests for comment.)

A day later, the claim made its first appearance on X in a post by Sonja van den Ende, an activist in the Netherlands, whose articles have previously appeared on propaganda outlets linked to the Russian government, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. (She also served as an election observer in an occupied territory of Ukraine during Russian parliamentary elections in September.)

Within days, reports about the villa appeared on X in French and Romanian, and in English on three different Reddit forums.

According to Roberta Duffield, director of intelligence for Blackbird.AI, an internet security company, nearly 29 percent of the accounts amplifying the reports appeared to be inauthentic bots, an unusually high number that would normally indicate a coordinated campaign.

Eight days after the video appeared, Russia state television networks like Channel One, Rossiya 24 and RT (in Arabic and German) reported it as a major revelation uncovered by a renowned Egyptian investigative journalist.

The story seemed to stall there. Naguib Sawiris, the scion of the Egyptian family that owned the development, curtly denied the sale in a reply on X.

And no more was heard from or about the character called Mohamed al-Alawi — until late December.

That was when two new videos emerged on a YouTube channel called “Egypt News,” claiming that he was dead.

The channel had been created the day before. One video showed a man identified as Alawi’s brother, Ahmed, answering questions from another man.

The police, he said, told him that they suspected his brother had been beaten to death by “Ukrainian special forces who acted on behalf of President Zelensky or another high-ranking official.”

He spoke with his hand cupped over his face to obscure his identity. The other video showed what was said to be the site of an attack, though the images were indistinct. “I can’t tell you anything else,” he said in the video, which YouTube later removed. “I’m afraid for my family.”

The video also tried to explain away some of the obvious holes in the initial story, including why there was no evidence online of Alawi’s previous work. “It was his first big assignment,” the man said.

The new episode spread as the first video had. A day later, an article about the death appeared on an obscure website created last year called El Mostaqbal, a name similar to but unrelated to the actual news organization in Lebanon.

“A reporter who announced that Zelensky’s mother-in-law brought a luxury villa has died under mysterious circumstances,” the headline read. Other reports that followed dropped any uncertainty and began referring to his “murder.”

In fact, Egypt’s Ministry of the Interior said there were no reports or evidence that anyone resembling the man in the video had been “subjected to harm.” The statement went on to note that the property itself had not been sold.

Still, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, posts about the supposed killing were viewed a million times on X on Dec. 25.

It also appeared on the website of the Middle East Monitor, or MEMO, operated by a well-known nonprofit organization in London and financed by the government of Qatar. A journalist who once reported from Moscow for The Telegraph of London, Ben Aris, cited it at length on the platform, though, when challenged, he said he had just made note of the rumor. “I don’t have time to check all this stuff myself,” he wrote.

It appeared in English on a site, Clear Story News, that Mr. Linvill of Clemson’s Media Forensics Hub had previously linked to Russia’s disinformation efforts. (The site lists no contact information)

Mr. Linvill described the process as a form of “narrative laundering” — moving false claims from unknown or not credible sources to ones that, to the unwitting at least, seem more legitimate.

More Elaborate Narratives

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue studied three other complex narratives about Ukraine, as well.

One featured a French journalist who claimed that the son of George Soros — a regular target of Russian and far-right political attacks — had secretly acquired land for a toxic waste dump in Ukraine. An unnamed doctor in Africa said in another that an American medical charity, the Global Surgical and Medical Support Group, was harvesting the organs of wounded Ukrainian soldiers for transplants for NATO officers.

Then there was the case of a man calling himself Shahzad Nasir, whose profile on X identifies him as a journalist with Emirates 24/7, an English-language news outlet in Dubai, though he has no apparent bylines on the site.

In November, he claimed that cronies of Mr. Zelensky bought two yachts — Lucky Me and My Legacy — for $75 million. His evidence, like Mohamed al-Alawi’s, includes photographs of the vessels and purported purchase agreements.

In fact, as the BBC documented in December, the yachts had not been purchased and remained for sale. Despite numerous efforts by fact checkers to dispel it as rumor, the claim circulated extensively.

Last month, the character Nasir reappeared in another video. This time he had a new version of the tale, claiming that the purchases had been scuttled after he exposed the secret deal.

The ramifications of these campaigns are difficult to measure precisely. There are signs, though, that they resonate even when proved false.

Senator J.D. Vance, a Republican of Ohio and an outspoken critic of Ukraine aid, seemed to embrace the claim in December during an interview on “War Room,” the podcast hosted by Stephen K. Bannon, the onetime adviser to former President Donald J. Trump.

“There are people who would cut Social Security — throw our grandparents into poverty — why?” Mr. Vance said. “So that one of Zelensky’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?”

That prompted a public rebuke this month from a Republican colleague, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who ridiculed those who repeat unproven allegations.

“They’ve heard somebody say that if we pass this bill, that we’re all going to go ride to Kyiv with buckets full of money and let oligarchs buy yachts!” he said of critics of the assistance to Ukraine, in what he later called a reference to Mr. Vance’s comments. “I wonder how the spouses of the estimated 25,000 soldiers in Ukraine who have died feel about that? I mean, really, guys?”

Karoun Demirjian contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article misstated, in one reference, the name of a group at Clemson University that studies disinformation. It is the Media Forensics Hub, not the Digital Media Hub.

How we handle corrections

Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation for The Times. He has worked in Washington, Moscow, Baghdad and Beijing, where he contributed to the articles that won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2021. He is also the author of “The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin.” More about Steven Lee Myers

Our Coverage of the War in Ukraine

News and Analysis

A day after securing a new term in a rubber-stamp presidential election, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said he would not back down in Russia’s war against Ukraine .

With additional American aid still in doubt, Lloyd Austin, the U.S. defense secretary, called for “creative, adaptable and sustainable ways” to continue arming Ukraine  and praised European allies who were trying to bolster Kyiv’s military.

Ukraine fired a volley of exploding drones  at Moscow and other targets on the final day of Russia’s presidential vote, the local authorities said, continuing a flurry of attacks timed for the election .

Elaborate Tales: As the Ukraine war grinds on, the Kremlin has created increasingly complex fabrications online  to discredit Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, and undermine the country’s support in the West.

Targeting Russia’s Oil Industry: With its army short of ammunition and troops to break the deadlock on the battlefield, Kyiv has increasingly taken the fight beyond the Ukrainian border, attacking oil infrastructure deep in Russian territory .

Electronic Warfare: Drones have become a critical weapon for both Russia and Ukraine. But Moscow’s capability to overpower Ukrainian signals  by broadcasting on the same frequencies at higher power is putting Kyiv at a disadvantage.

How We Verify Our Reporting

Our team of visual journalists analyzes satellite images, photographs , videos and radio transmissions  to independently confirm troop movements and other details.

We monitor and authenticate reports on social media, corroborating these with eyewitness accounts and interviews. Read more about our reporting efforts .

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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 .

The transaction could not be confirmed, with yacht world insiders declining to share what they know and representatives for Zuckerberg not responding to a request for comment from Business Insider. In the past, reports about Zuckerberg owning superyacht Ulysses have proven false.

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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].

Watch: Walmart heiress' superyacht vandalized by activists in Ibiza

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