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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Have $100 million burning in your pocket? Consider this mega yacht the
Justice Department is selling
By Kara Scannell, CNN
Updated:
3:00 AM EDT, Wed September 10, 2025
Source: CNN
For sale: A with an infinity pool, eight staterooms, a sauna and
helipad.
The seller: The US government.
The Amadea was three years ago on the shores of Fiji in an operation
run by the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force that
targeted Russians on the US sanctions list to put pressure on Russian
President Vladimir Putin after his invasion of Ukraine.
The vessel was once valued at $350 million and is now likely to be sold
for a deep discount following a multiyear legal battle involving a
bitter dispute over the ship’s rightful owner.
The Amadea is one of several mega yachts, airplanes and luxury
properties seized by the task force since it was established in 2022.
Many of them remain in legal limbo.
Earlier this year a judge awarded the boat to the US government, which
has put it up for sale to the highest bidder in an auction administered
by National Maritime Services with yacht broker Fraser Yachts.
The closes Wednesday. To , a bidder needs to post a $10 million
deposit.
Built in 2017, the Amadea has six decks, a grand salon with a marble
fireplace and piano, a gym, health center, private cinema and lobster
tank. In 2022, the US said the yacht was appraised for $230 million. It
has been moored in San Diego.
Researchers with Arizton Advisory and Intelligence say there are only
about 50 to 100 ultra wealthy people in the world who can afford to buy
a boat this big. They estimate the current value of the Amadea is
between $80 million and $120 million.
One factor that could weigh on the price is ongoing litigation over the
ship and a Russian’s efforts to claim it.
US prosecutors seized the yacht alleging it was owned by Suleiman
Kerimov, a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in gold and
violated US sanctions by using the US banking system to cover expenses
for the vessel.
Another Russian, Eduard Khudainatov, a former head of energy company
Rosneft, and Millemarin Investments came forward to claim the
superyacht.
Judge Dale Ho in New York in March after finding there is “a
sufficient basis to conclude that Claimants are mere straw owners of
the Amadea, who hold title to it for another party and therefore, under
2nd Circuit precedent, lack standing to contest forfeiture.” The
judge also found that a “preponderance of the evidence in the
record” indicates the yacht is owned “by members of the family of
Suleiman Kerimov.”
Khudainatov has appealed. The Justice Department has until mid-November
to respond.
Adam Ford, who represents Khudainatov called the sale “improper and
premature.”
“If our appeal succeeds, the government must repay the vessel’s
full value. We doubt it will attract any rational buyer at fair market
price, because ownership can, and will, be challenged in courts outside
the United States, exposing purchasers to years of costly, uncertain
litigation,” Ford said in a statement to CNN.
Prosecutors called his comments a “blatant attempt to impede the
Government’s ability to sell the Government’s own property and
damage the Amadea’s selling price.”
The US Marshals Service has incurred $32 million in transportation,
maintenance, storage and other costs since June 2022, according to
court filings.
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