Million-dollar upkeep: US pays $20 million for the superyacht owned by a captured Russian billionaire

NEW DELHI: The Justice Department’s attempt to put pressure on Moscow is evident in the almost $1 million a month that the US government is presently spending on maintaining an opulent superyacht that was seized from a Russian tycoon under sanctions.
According to a CNN story, the 348-foot luxury ship Amadea was among the first notable assets targeted by a special task team that sought to punish Russians who supported the Kremlin.

The superyacht was apprehended by local law enforcement and the FBI in 2022 when it was in a Fijian port. The US government alleges that the owner, Suleiman Kerimov, amassed his fortune via gold and violated US sanctions by using US banks to cover the yacht’s costs. The boat is anchored in San Diego right now.
Currently, federal prosecutors have asked a judge to grant permission for the yacht’s sale because of its expensive upkeep, which, according to recent court filings, has topped $20 million.
The US Marshals Service documents say that an evaluation recently determined the yacht’s value to be $230 million.
In court filings, prosecutors contend that the public’s monthly payment of over a million dollars for Amadea maintenance is “excessive..”. They point out that if the boat were to be sold via an interlocutory transaction, these costs might be fully avoided.
The monthly cost of maintaining the boat is around $600,000, plus an extra $144,000 for insurance. In addition, the court records state that sporadic costs related to dry docking increase the monthly total by an additional $178,000, to $922,000 overall.
The superyacht’s owners, Eduard Khudainatov and Millemarin Investments have disputed the transaction. They have asked the court to postpone making a judgment on the sale until after their petition to dismiss the civil forfeiture action has been settled.
They suggested that the Amadea be returned and expressed to the court their readiness to reimburse the US government for the expenses expended in keeping it in place. Although they agreed that maintaining the vessel would be expensive, they made it clear that they never intended for US taxpayers to foot the bill. Nonetheless, they fully acknowledge the possible financial burden on American taxpayers and blame the government’s action for the unjustified seizure and its ensuing consequences.
The prosecution emphasized that the decision on this motion may take several months, which would raise the vessel’s overall maintenance costs even further.