NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — A $330 million Russian super yacht seized by the United States government 19 months ago was spotted Wednesday cruising around San Diego Bay.
This, as the Department of Justice said in court papers it may seek to sell the Amadea yacht to the highest bidder to get out of skyrocketing maintenance costs, estimated at $1 million per month.
Online tracking of the yacht showed it exited San Diego Bay around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, then made a loop off the coast of La Jolla before returning to its dock in National City at about 4 p.m.
The voyage was apparently part of routine maintenance of the seized vessel, which requires running the engines at sea.
In 2022, the U.S. government seized the Amadea to help fund Ukraine's war against Russia, claiming the yacht was owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch. It has been docked off Pepper Park in National City for the past 19 months.
Earlier this month, as part of a New York forfeiture case filed by the DOJ, prosecutors suggested selling the yacht, even before the federal case has concluded.
“Plaintiff may seek interlocutory sale of the Amadea, as it would be more economical for this litigation to proceed against a corpus of cash (i.e., the Amadea sale proceeds) as compared to a physical ship that requires substantial maintenance costs every month,” the pleading read.
Former San Diego U.S. Attorney Charles La Bella reviewed the pleading at the request of CBS 8.
“It’s a costly maintenance. It's much more costly than, you know, a seized car where you put into a lot and you pay $150 a month to have the car sit there until forfeiture is determined,” said La Bella.
La Bella said, in order to win the case, the U.S. government is going to have to prove the actual owner is indeed a sanctioned Russian oligarch.
“In most countries, people who have enough money to buy a yacht like this hide behind LLCs, bearer bonds, and they create a paper trail that's almost impossible to unwind,” said La Bella.
Ownership of the Amadea is a key point of contention in the case. The DOJ contends the true owner is sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov.
On paper, the yacht is owned by Millemarin Investments, LTD. Eduard Khudainatov, a non-sanctioned former CEO of Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft, claims to be the beneficiary of Millemarin Investments, LTD.
“At the end of the day, if and when it is sold, then the residue of the money, when you take out the maintenance fees, would go to the war effort,” said La Bella.
Recent filings in the New York forfeiture case suggest the evidence discovery process will go on for months, and a final ruling may not come until the end of the year.
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