The United States is trying to seize a superyacht suspected of belonging to a Russian oligarch that is docked in the island nation of Fiji, in the Pacific, a restraining order filed Tuesday by the director of Fiji's public prosecutor's office showed.
The luxury ship Amadea is suspected to be owned by Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, who is subject to economic sanctions by the United States and the European Union imposed in response to Russia's activities in Syria and Ukraine.
The ship arrived in Fiji a week ago, after leaving Mexico 18 days earlier and crossing the Pacific.
Authorities in several countries have seized luxury boats and villas owned by Russian billionaires in response to sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, which Russia calls a special military operation.
The director of the Fiji Public Prosecution, Christopher Pryde, filed a request with the High Court to prevent Amadea from leaving the port.
The request requested that “the motor yacht Amadea be prevented from leaving Fijian waters until the application to register a seizure order for the property is completed and (ii) that a U.S. order to seize the Amadea be registered.”
The US embassy did not immediately respond to a media request for comment, but last week it said that “the United States is committed to finding and confiscating the assets of oligarchs who have supported the Russian Federation's brutal and unprovoked war of election against Ukraine.”
The court has not heard the request.
A superyacht agent in Fiji acting for Amadea told Reuters last week that the ship's lawyers were denying that Suleiman owned it.
Records seen by Reuters show that the yacht is in the name of a company in the Cayman Islands.
Kerimov is among the group of oligarchs that support the Kremlin economically and had already been subject to sanctions in the past by the United States in 2014 and 2018 for Russia's war actions in Syria and Ukraine.
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