Sanctions have boomeranged on the American wallet
The United States spent about $20 million on the maintenance of a superyacht confiscated from a Russian oligarch. The US government is spending almost $1 million a month to maintain a luxury superyacht confiscated from a sanctioned Russian billionaire as part of the US Justice Department's efforts to pressure the Kremlin
As reported by CNN, the 348-foot yacht Amadea was one of the first trophies claimed by US prosecutors as part of the task force's efforts to prosecute «Russians friendly to the Kremlin.»
The superyacht was seized while docked in a Fiji port in 2022 by local law enforcement and the FBI. US prosecutors allege that its owner, Suleiman Kerimov, violated US sanctions by using the US banking system to cover expenses for the ship. The yacht is moored in San Diego.
Now federal prosecutors have asked a judge for permission to sell the vessel, saying its expenses were excessive and cost the government an estimated $20 million, according to recent court documents.
A recent appraisal values the yacht at $230 million, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
“It is “excessive” for taxpayers to pay nearly a million dollars a month to maintain Amadea when those costs could be eliminated for an interim sale account,» prosecutors wrote in a filing earlier this month.
Monthly maintenance costs for the yacht are approximately $600,000 plus $144,000 in insurance, according to court records. When factoring in occasional one-time fees to cover dry docking costs, that adds another $178,000 per month, bringing the total bill to $922,000 per month, reports say.