NY court has denied US Gov right to sell a superyacht of sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov. The motion to sell the Amadea has been denied by US district judge Dale Ho. On 9 Feb 2024 Fed prosecutors filed a statement re its auction amid “excessive” carrying costs, estimated at $743,750/mth

2 comments

1. >The ruling means that U.S. taxpayers will continue to foot the bill for roughly $740,000 a month for the 106-meter Amadea’s upkeep and insurance. The U.S. government is paying roughly $600,000 for the yacht’s upkeep and $140,000 for its insurance each month.

   >In a bid to decrease those expenses, the U.S. government requested permission to sell the vessel and convert its value into cash. That practice is relatively common in civil forfeiture cases when an asset is rapidly depreciating in value or its upkeep is excessively costly.

   >But on Tuesday, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York ruled that the cost of maintaining Amadea was not “excessive.”

   >Amadea was arrested in May 2022 after its UBO (ultimate beneficiary owner) was allegedly sanctioned following the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. US authorities detained the vessel and subsequently moved it from Fiji to San Diego, where she remains.

   >The luxury vessel, with an estimated value of $230 million, is at the center of a legal battle over the enforcement of U.S. sanctions against Russia. American prosecutors allege that Kerimov and his proxies routed dollar transactions through U.S. financial institutions to maintain the yacht, which would constitute a sanctions violation.

   Wonder how many American taxpayers are good with paying almost 3/4 of a million per month considered as being “not excessive” 🤔

2. Drive it out and sink to be a reef. Done. Cost gone.