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

Fiji's High Court docket on Tuesday ruled that a huge Russian-owned yacht will 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 built 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 lawyer who represents Millemarin Investments, the company the $325 million ship is registered to, mentioned it's not owned by Kerimov. As a substitute, he argued in courtroom that company paperwork traces the ship's ownership to Eduard Khudainatov, a former govt at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil firm who has not been sanctioned. 

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

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, based on native reports and the maritime analytics web site Marine Visitors. Soon after, a federal choose permitted a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's prime prosecutor moved to prevent the ship from leaving.

The Department of Justice couldn't instantly be reached for remark. 

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

Laws handed by the House of Representatives on April 27 would permit the U.S. to promote the yacht and different properties price greater than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs in an effort to fund the Ukrainian struggle effort. President Joe Biden supports the invoice, which has but to go the Senate.

"We will seize their yachts, their luxury properties and other ill-begotten positive factors," Biden said on April 28 at the White House.

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