US spends more than $7m a year to keep up superyacht seized from Russian oligarch

Government efforts to auction Amadea, vessel allegedly owned by Suleiman Kerimov, challenged by ex-head of Russian oil company

The US government has said it is spending more than $7m a year to maintain a superyacht it seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch, and urged a judge to let it auction the vessel before a dispute over its ownership is resolved.

Authorities in Fiji seized the 348ft (106-meter), $300m Amadea in May 2022, pursuant to a US warrant alleging it was owned by Suleiman Kerimov, a multibillionaire sanctioned by the US treasury department in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia's activities in Syria and Ukraine.