For Sale: A Seized Russian Mega Yacht, Yours for About $100 Million

The United States government is selling a yacht fit for royalty — or, more accurately, for oligarchs.

The Amadea, a 348-foot floating palace with a marble-floored grand salon, a cinema, gym, helipad, lobster tank, and infinity pool, has gone on the block in a sealed auction closing Wednesday. Prospective buyers must put down a $10 million deposit just to enter the race.

But this is no ordinary luxury sale. The Amadea was seized three years ago in Fiji by the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, part of Washington’s effort to squeeze Russian billionaires after the invasion of Ukraine. Once valued at $350 million, its current worth is estimated between $80 million and $120 million.

The ship has been in limbo ever since, tied up in a legal brawl over who really owns it. US prosecutors argue the vessel belongs to Suleiman Kerimov, a Kremlin-connected gold tycoon under sanctions. Businessman Eduard Khudainatov, the former Rosneft chief, stepped forward to claim the yacht, along with a Cayman Islands firm. In March, a federal judge in New York dismissed those claims, ruling that the supposed owners were “mere strawmen” for the Kerimov family.

Khudainatov has appealed, and his lawyer warned that any sale now would be “improper and premature,” promising years of litigation for whoever buys the boat. The Justice Department shot back, calling that statement a tactic designed to “damage the Amadea’s selling price.”

A test case in high-seas justice

The yacht has cost US taxpayers dearly: $32 million so far in storage, transport, and upkeep, according to court filings. Selling it relieves that burden and signals that Washington intends not just to freeze oligarch wealth, but to liquidate it.

The auction will also test how willing the world’s ultra-rich are to buy contested assets. Researchers estimate that only 50 to 100 people worldwide could realistically afford such a vessel. For them, the Amadea is both a bargain and a gamble: a superyacht at half-price, but with a legal fight potentially waiting in ports beyond US jurisdiction.

More than just a boat

For Washington, the sale is symbolic as much as financial. The Amadea represents the reach of US sanctions into the private sanctuaries of Russian wealth. By putting it under the hammer, the Justice Department is betting that confiscated luxury can be turned into both a warning and a weapon: oligarchs can lose not just their cash but their symbols of untouchability.