After being in San Diego for nearly a year, the yacht Amadea, frozen by U.S. authorities, has departed California. She’s currently in Washington State, ahead of scheduled drydock repairs.
According to AIS data, the 348-foot (106.1-meter) megayacht departed San Diego on April 24. She arrived in Everett, Washington on April 29. Although she was still in Everett at press time, a Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed to us that her ultimate destination is Seattle. The spokesperson did not, however, indicate which shipyard would house her when we inquired.
The movement is not a surprise. In fact, it comes slightly later than the time period that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) originally disclosed. In court documents from February, the DOJ said it planned to spend $5.6 million on drydock service starting in March. Despite that, though, it did not name a particular location for the work.
The federal agency is spending the money to maintain the yacht because the DOJ still wishes to auction Amadea. In a hearing before a judge that also took place in February, the DOJ stated that the $600,000 monthly operating costs, inclusive of crew salaries, were “far from modest.” The same is true, the DOJ added, for the annual insurance premium, a total of $1.7 million. The department believes a swift auction will alleviate the burden on taxpayers. Overall, it values the yacht Amadea at $325 million.
The superyacht has been under the American government’s control since 2022. The DOJ obtained the collaboration of the government of Fiji to arrest her in its waters in May of that year. She departed for American shores, stopping first in Hawaii and then San Diego, in June 2022. According to the DOJ, the arrest was necessary because the yacht’s then-beneficial owner violated sanctions. That owner was Suleiman Kerimov, who holds a major stake in Russia’s biggest gold producer and is a member of a Russian legislative body. Initially, he was placed under U.S. sanctions in 2018 due to allegations of money laundering. Specifically, he reportedly used the U.S. financial system to make payments for the yacht’s maintenance. Further sanctions followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Notably, yet another Russian claims he actually owns the yacht. Eduard Khudainatov, who previous ran the government-controlled oil company Rosneft, filed a lawsuit in October 2023 attempting to block a civil forfeiture. Khudainatov is not under sanctions.
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