- The US has been trying to seize a $300 million yacht tied to a sanctioned Russian oligarch for weeks.
- The ship is currently docked in Fiji amid a legal battle over the vessel's true ownership.
- The FBI says Suleiman Kerimov has requested several expensive updates to the boat, CBS reported.
The US was able to link sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov to the $300 million Amadea superyacht through alleged requests for a new pizza oven, spa bed, and "the quickest" jet skis, an FBI agent said in an affidavit obtained by CBS.
Feizal Haniff, the lawyer representing the company that owns the Amadea, argues the yacht is owned by a Russian oil executive named Eduard Khudainatov, who is not sanctioned. After weeks of legal back-and-forth, US authorities have so far been unsuccessful in their attempts to seize the vessel in Fiji.
Late last week, a Fijian court dismissed Haniff's appeal that was preventing the ship's seizure. He has until this Friday to appeal the decision.
The underlying debate surrounding the Amadea's ownership is a question that's been echoed in various forms following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. From multi-million dollar works of art to luxury real estate, those seeking to avoid seizure have long found ways to obscure the true ownership of their assets.
The FBI's affidavit claims that Khudainatov is just a "straw man" covering for Kerimov, adding that the former Rosneft exec is a "second-tier oligarch (at best)" who would not be able to afford more than $1 billion worth of luxury yachts, the report says.
The agent also alleged the Amadea crew used code names to talk about the sanctioned oligarch and his family, CBS reported. The US Justice Department, Fiji's Court of Appeal, and Haniff did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Photos of the superyacht's interior designed by François Zuretti show marble floors, red velvet staircases, golden accents, and spacious bedrooms. It can fit a total of 18 guests and 36 crewmembers, according to the blog Superyachtfan.
At 348 feet, the Amadea is one of the largest yachts in the world. Equipped with a helipad, pool, and eight cabins, the vessel's costly upkeep clocks in at between $25 and $30 million a year, the US Justice Department estimates.
Court documents show that Kerimov owned the Amadea after he was sanctioned by the US, the Department of Justice said in a May press release. The oligarch used the US dollar and US financial institutions for the Amadea's "support and maintenance," the statement added.
The West's move to target Russia's elite following the invasion of Ukraine by seizing their foreign assets poses several logistical and legal difficulties, as Insider has previously reported. From figuring out how to pay impounded crews to determining who actually owns the yachts amid a tangle of shell corporations, the battle in Fiji has revealed the many legal protections that are in place to protect private property from government overstep.
If seized, the Amadea would be the second oligarch yacht taken by the US. However, it's still unclear what exactly the administration plans to do with the massive vessels as there's no precedent or clear legal framework to carry out President Biden's plan to sell the assets to fund Ukraine, experts previously told Insider.