Inside the capture of a Russian oligarch's superyacht - BBC

The vigor fizzed with static arsenic 1 of the world's astir costly superyachts sailed done the mist into San Diego Bay.

"Sécurité, sécurité, sécurité… this is the inbound yacht the Amadea."

At the stern, an American emblem fluttered supra the boat's lavish, mosaic-lined swimming pool.

The $325m (£307m) vas had spent astir of its beingness touring picturesque ports successful the Mediterranean. Now, nether the power of US authorities, it was destined for a drab factual wharf successful an concern harbour.

It is the astir ostentatious trophy claimed by a taskforce that - successful the words of US President Joe Biden - was acceptable up to prosecute Russian oligarchs' "ill-begotten gains".

The BBC has been granted exclusive entree down the scenes of a superyacht seizure.

As missiles rained down connected Ukraine successful the aboriginal days of the war, US authoritative Andrew Adams was sitting successful his New York bureau with a database of Kremlin-connected billionaires and their luxury assets.

But it looked similar clip was moving out. On a integer representation of maritime traffic, helium could spot superyachts linked to oligarchs making a scramble for information - sailing towards countries where, helium suspected, they believed their assets would beryllium harmless from sanctions.

Among the opulent floating targets, 1 "mega yacht" stood out, Mr Adams said.

The Amadea is astir the magnitude of a shot pitch, with a helipad astatine 1 extremity and a 10-metre infinity excavation astatine the other. Inside, determination is simply a gym, quality salon, cinema and vino cellar. There are luxury cabins for 16 guests, and accommodation for 36 unit to work their each need.

From a distance, it appears similar the extremity of an iceberg. Sleek, cleanable lines and a gleaming achromatic facade look to task an representation of pristine purity. Simply keeping the Amadea shipshape comes astatine immense expense, with yearly moving costs estimated astatine £25m oregon more. But the ownership of the yacht, and the root of the wealthiness locked distant successful its marble floors and teak decking, remains disputed.

US investigators accidental billionaire Russian person Suleiman Kerimov is the existent owner. Mr Kerimov, a legislator successful the Russian parliament, rejects the claim.

The 56-year-old is 1 of the richest men successful Russia, according to Forbes, which estimates that helium and his household are worthy $12.4bn. He made his luck aft the autumn of the Soviet Union, buying up ample stakes successful Russian companies, including the country's biggest state and golden producers.

The US sanctioned Mr Kerimov successful 2018. The UK followed suit successful March, arsenic did the EU, which said helium had supported oregon implemented policies which undermine the independence, stableness and information of Ukraine.

The wrong communicative of the crippled of feline and rodent betwixt immoderate of the world's astir almighty nations and immoderate of Russia's richest men.

The database of Russian elites banned from spending their fortunes successful Western countries had been increasing since 2014, arsenic governments tried to isolate President Putin aft the annexation of Crimea. When tanks rolled into Ukraine successful February, oligarchs faced renewed scrutiny.

"We're joining with European allies to find and prehend their yachts, their luxury apartments, their backstage jets," President Biden announced connected 1 March.

Mr Adams - a lean, blue-eyed authoritative with the US Department of Justice - was placed astatine the caput of a caller taskforce, named KleptoCapture, dedicated to enforcing US sanctions.

He planned to usage his acquisition tackling organised transgression to honour the president's pledge.

With tactics developed successful the combat against the mafia, the taskforce - which includes agents and analysts from the likes of the FBI and the US Secret Service - aims to place high-ranking targets, find grounds of immoderate instrumentality breaking and past "seize assets arsenic rapidly and arsenic aggressively arsenic we can," helium said.

But 2 weeks aft the penetration began, Mr Adams could spot the Amadea "scrambling retired of waters wherever we would usually beryllium capable to prehend it".

"It became captious erstwhile it turned disconnected its determination monitor, its transponder," helium said. "Essentially, the vessel tried to spell dark."

On 12 March, the Amadea near Antigua successful the Caribbean and 5 days aboriginal travelled done the Panama Canal, stopping concisely successful Mexico earlier striking retired into the Pacific Ocean connected 25 March.

After much than a fortnight astatine sea, it arrived successful Fiji. The yacht was scheduled to permission for the Philippines wrong 48 hours, but the US believed its existent destination was Vladivostok, a Russian larboard adjacent the borderline with China and North Korea.

As it sailed done the Pacific, investigators successful the US were searching for immoderate authorisation violations that could beryllium utilized arsenic a "hook" to prehend the Amadea, Mr Adams said. Their extremity was to beryllium that Mr Kerimov owned the boat, and that US dollars had been utilized to purchase, proviso oregon support it.

Tracking down a superyacht's existent proprietor requires much than a google search, Mr Adams said. "It tin beryllium highly hard to unravel who owns these vessels." Ownership is often hidden down ammunition companies and trusts, registered successful countries wherever accusation is "tightly controlled and not thing that the US tin ever easy access," helium said.

But Russia's warfare had led to a "boom of information" provided by co-operative overseas countries, including those which "historically person been viewed arsenic opaque" - places wherever institution ownership is hard to investigate, Mr Adams said.

It required a monolithic probe successful a abbreviated time, with members of the taskforce interviewing sources with cognition of the boat's finances, and scouring slope statements and firm records, helium said.

"We were capable to get that accusation successful portion due to the fact that determination was an tremendous upswell of enactment for Ukraine and enactment for this effort."

According to US tribunal documents, investigators unearthed evidence, which, they say, proves Mr Kerimov has owned the vessel since August 2021 - 3 years aft helium was archetypal sanctioned by the US Treasury.

"What we recovered was that one, Mr Kerimov owns the boat, and two, that helium had important numbers of US dollars that flowed into the vessel implicit the years successful usurpation of US sanctions."

As it docked successful Fiji, section authorities searched the Amadea and recovered records of fiscal transactions stretching backmost 4 months. Hours later, equipped with this caller information, FBI agents applied to a US justice for a warrant to prehend the boat. The FBI listed their reasons for believing Mr Kerimov was the yacht's "true beneficial owner," though galore of the details person been redacted successful a copy published by the US government.

Mr Kerimov's representatives told the BBC that his alleged ownership of the Amadea is "denied and unproven".

A week aft the vessel arrived successful the Pacific island, a section lawyer intervened connected behalf of a institution that is formally registered arsenic the superyacht's owner. It led to a seven-week ineligible wrangle, arsenic appeals against the warrant worked their mode up to Fiji's ultimate court.

The lawyer argued determination was nary grounds the yacht represented the proceeds of crime, and claimed it really belonged to a antithetic billionaire Russian oligarch.

Eduard Khuadainatov is the erstwhile CEO of state-owned lipid elephantine Rosneft. He was sanctioned successful June by the EU, which said helium present owned 1 of the biggest backstage lipid companies successful Russia. He is not sanctioned successful the US.

The lawyer told the Fijian tribunal determination was "undisputed evidence" that Mr Khuadainatov owned the Amadea. He is besides the named proprietor of a $700m yacht linked to Putin, which has been frozen by Italian authorities. But the US claims helium is simply a "straw man" - intended to conceal the individuality of the existent owners.

"To ain respective half-billion dollar yachts arsenic a mid-tier industrialist is wholly implausible," Mr Adams said.

Mr Khudainatov has not responded to requests for comment.

FBI agents flew successful portion the Amadea was moored successful Fiji's turquoise waters successful aboriginal May. Under a blazing sun, a enactment of men successful acheronian suits boarded the vessel arsenic unit members wearing achromatic polo shirts waited connected deck.

Agents discovered it "looked similar a luxury yacht that was connected a high-speed pursuit crossed the Pacific", Mr Adams said. It had "been battened down beauteous heavily", helium added.

Inside, they recovered ornate furnishings, including chandeliers, gilded fittings and costly artworks.

The taskforce is inactive calculating the full worth of the luxuries, and the authenticity of the astir salient pieces are nether investigation. Among them, 1 striking point stood retired - a lavish entity resembling a uncommon Fabergé egg. Only a fewer twelve were made for the Russian Imperial family, and they person travel to symbolise opulence and power.

"Maybe it's a existent Fabergé egg, possibly it's not a existent Fabergé egg," Mr Adams said. "Time volition tell."

After astir 2 months tied-up beside shipping containers, the Fijian ultimate tribunal cleared the mode for the US to prehend the boat. It had go an planetary spectacle.

After the ruling successful June, the island's main of constabulary posed for photographs connected platform with US embassy officials arsenic the Stars and Stripes fluttered overhead. The boat, which had flown the colours of the Cayman Islands, would present sail nether the American flag.

But earlier it could depart for the US, Mr Adams decided to regenerate the crew. "We needed a unit that we could trust on," helium said.

After a three-week voyage, the Amadea reached the US mainland, sailing into San Diego Bay connected 27 June.

It was a arrogant infinitesimal for the taskforce, but it was "just the opening of a process present successful the United States," Mr Adams said. "It's not the end."

For the US, the eventual extremity is to merchantability the boat, helium said. "It's to supply funds for Ukraine."

But first, they indispensable transportation a tribunal that Mr Kerimov is the existent proprietor of the boat, and that sanctions were violated to wage for it.

To prepare, investigators are analysing "terabytes of data", including slope records and masses of physics communications, portion Russian connection linguists are investigating fiscal documents.

It is not the lone superyacht caught successful the taskforce's net. Days earlier the Amadea arrived successful Fiji, FBI agents with the Spanish constabulary seized the $90m Tango, which is owned by sanctioned billionaire Viktor Vekselberg. It remains moored successful Mallorca, but Mr Adams hopes thi,s too, tin beryllium sold to assistance rebuild Ukraine.

In Europe, information experts person been intimately pursuing the saga of the Tango and the Amadea. They uncover a cardinal quality betwixt instrumentality enforcement approaches connected either broadside of the Atlantic.

Several oligarch-linked superyachts are being held successful the EU, and 1 successful the UK, but the boats person been frozen, alternatively than seized.

"In principle, if you lone frost an plus it volition instrumentality to the proprietor astatine immoderate point; if it's seized, they suffer it forever," said Tom Keatinge, the manager of the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies astatine the Royal United Services Institute.

While the US has long-standing laws to tackle sanctions evasion and prehend assets, helium says authorities successful London and Brussels are "struggling to plan ineligible mechanisms" that volition let them to prehend assets that person initially been frozen.

Since the invasion, the UK has sanctioned astatine slightest 1,200 people, including much than 120 oligarchs with an estimated combined nett worthy of implicit £130bn. But, wherever enactment has been taken, it has focused connected freezing assets.

In March, erstwhile transport caput Grant Shapps filmed a selfie-style video alongside a £38m yacht named Phi connected the time it was detained by the National Crime Agency successful London's Canary Wharf.

He said the determination had "turned an icon of Russia's powerfulness and wealthiness into a wide and stark informing to Putin and his cronies".

But with the detention of the Phi, the UK was relying connected a instrumentality with a broader scope than those utilized by its planetary allies.

The boat's owner, Sergei Naumenko, is not connected immoderate authorisation list. And yet, nether UK law, vessels tin beryllium detained simply for being owned oregon operated by idiosyncratic connected with Russia.

Guy Booth, the yacht's captain, said Mr Naumenko was "absolutely not an oligarch and he's not, arsenic described, a adjacent idiosyncratic person of Vladimir Putin".

"If this were an oligarch's boat, it would beryllium 4 times the size," helium added.

Mr Booth says the cognition seemed "staged" for publicity, adding that Mr Shapps appeared to beryllium "posing similar a large crippled huntsman who'd conscionable changeable a lion".

The Department for Transport said it stands firmly by its determination to detain the Phi, adding that the UK would "continue to enactment wrong its disposable powers to ratchet up the economical unit connected Russia and marque beingness harder for Russian elites".

Mr Booth remains affirmative that "one time yet we volition sail disconnected down the Thames".

As Western governments grapple with confiscating frozen assets, Mr Adams expects much countries to travel their "aggressive" attack to seizures.

"We privation to marque it arsenic hard arsenic imaginable to beryllium arsenic a idiosyncratic who tin gully connected the benefits of corruption successful Russia and astatine the aforesaid clip beryllium successful fabulous luxury successful the West," helium said.

In the twelvemonth earlier the invasion, the Amadea spent astir of its clip successful Europe. It dropped anchor disconnected the likes of Monaco, Marseilles and Montenegro, according to investigation for the BBC by Spire Global, a information and analytics provider.

Today, it is moored astatine the borderline of a engaged cargo terminal utilized by vast, rust-stained car bearer ships. A nationalist parkland runs adjacent to its berth, and locals person taken to sharing pictures of their glamorous caller neighbour connected societal media.

"They should unfastened it to the area's homeless," 1 idiosyncratic commented.

Another wrote: "I anticipation they merchantability it to assistance Ukrainian refugees."