For sale: A 348-foot mega yacht with an infinity pool, eight staterooms, a sauna and helipad.
The seller: The US government.
The Amadea was seized 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 sealed auction closes Wednesday. To enter the auction, 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 awarded the yacht to the US government 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.