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

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

American and Fijian officials claim 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 america, United Kingdom and European Union in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

But an legal professional who represents Millemarin Investments, the company the $325 million ship is registered to, mentioned it is not owned by Kerimov. Instead, he argued in courtroom that company paperwork traces the ship's ownership to Eduard Khudainatov, a former executive at Russia's state-owned Rosneft oil firm who has not been sanctioned. 

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

The Amadea berthed in Fiji on April 13, in keeping with local studies and the maritime analytics website Marine Traffic. Quickly after, a federal judge authorized a warrant for the ship to be seized and on April 19, Fiji's top prosecutor moved to stop the ship from leaving.

The Department of Justice could not immediately 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 passed by the Home of Representatives on April 27 would allow the U.S. to sell the yacht and other properties value more than $2 million seized from Russian oligarchs with a view to fund the Ukrainian warfare effort. President Joe Biden supports the invoice, which has but to cross the Senate.

"We'll seize their yachts, their luxurious houses and different ill-begotten good points," Biden mentioned on April 28 on the White House.

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