Courtroom in Fiji approves U.S. warrant to grab Russian-owned mega-yacht

Fiji's Excessive Courtroom on Tuesday dominated that a massive Russian-owned yacht may be seized by U.S. authorities.

American and Fijian officers declare the Cayman Islands-flagged Amadea is the property of Suleiman Kerimov, an oligarch who constructed his fortune on gold mining. Kerimov was sanctioned in March by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

But an attorney who represents Millemarin Investments, the company the $325 million ship is registered to, mentioned it isn't owned by Kerimov. As a substitute, he argued in court that company paperwork traces the ship's possession to Eduard Khudainatov, a former government at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil company who has not been sanctioned. 

Kerimov and Khudainatov could not be reached for comment. The company intends to attraction Tuesday's choice.

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, in line with local experiences and the maritime analytics web site Marine Site visitors. Soon after, a federal decide accredited a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's high prosecutor moved to stop the ship from leaving.

The Department of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment. 

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 handed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would permit the U.S. to sell the yacht and different properties price more than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs to be able to fund the Ukrainian struggle effort. President Joe Biden supports the bill, which has yet to cross the Senate.

"We're going to seize their yachts, their luxury houses and different ill-begotten positive factors," Biden stated on April 28 at the White Home.

Graham Kates is an investigative reporter masking prison justice, privateness points and knowledge security for CBS News Digital. Contact Graham at KatesG@cbsnews.com or grahamkates@protonmail.com