Nov 07, 2022, 12:19 pm
Published: November 7, 2022
The cost of maintaining the Amadea - a U.S.-occupied yacht linked to a Russian oligarch - is nearly USD 10 mln a year; U.S. taxpayers bear part of the cost, and the Amadea is just one of the costly seized Russian assets, the Bloomberg agency wrote on Monday.
The agency pointed to the rising costs of maintaining yachts seized by the U.S. and other Western governments that belong to Russian oligarchs or, as in the case of Amadea, are only linked to them.
When the Ukraine war began, Western governments rushed to seize Russian oligarchs’ yachts. But the idle boats have become a burden for some taxpayers.
Read The Big Take ⬇️ https://t.co/ovoNWOVDES
— Bloomberg (@business) November 7, 2022
“It’s been a public-relations success for Western governments, but legally and, perversely, financially, it’s a total mess,” Bloomberg noted. The agency estimated the annual cost of maintaining one yacht at 10 to 15 percent of its value. In some countries, the money comes from taxpayers, the agency pointed out.
"It can cost 10% to 15% of a yacht’s value to keep it running every year—even using an ultraconservative estimate of 3% of a ship’s value, the US and Italian governments will pay more than $50 million a year to maintain their fleets of arrested megayachts."https://t.co/Y0LNg9KvbX
— Tren Griffin (@trengriffin) November 7, 2022
The upkeep of the Amadeia, docked in San Diego in the US, consists of paying for a crew of engineers to ensure there are no fuel leaks and people to clean the vessel and its water distillation systems, which totals almost USD 10 mln per year.
The yacht was seized in Fiji earlier this year, according to the U.S. administration, and belongs to Western-sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. Worth more than USD 300 mln, the vessel was transported by U.S. services to the port of San Diego at the end of June. On board are, among other things, two pianos, a mosaic-decorated swimming pool and probably one of the last Faberge eggs.
Taxpayers could end up paying for the yachts maintenance for years
The agency estimated that it could take years to decide the future of the yachts. “Some countries may decide to actually confiscate and sell them,” Bloomberg stated giving the example of the U.S. which will do so by using fortitude “a complex process that involves proving to a judge that the asset was acquired with the proceeds of a crime.”
Above all, however, the U.S. needs to prove who really owns the yacht, which is extremely difficult due to the extensive network of shell companies used by Russian oligarchs.
In March, the US and its allies set up a special group to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs REPO (Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs). Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have seized more than 12 yachts linked to oligarchs. They have been valued at at least USD 4 bn, Bloomberg recalled.
https://tvpworld.com/64385120/maintainin...ons-report
The cost of maintaining the Amadea - a U.S.-occupied yacht linked to a Russian oligarch - is nearly USD 10 mln a year; U.S. taxpayers bear part of the cost, and the Amadea is just one of the costly seized Russian assets, the Bloomberg agency wrote on Monday.
The agency pointed to the rising costs of maintaining yachts seized by the U.S. and other Western governments that belong to Russian oligarchs or, as in the case of Amadea, are only linked to them.
When the Ukraine war began, Western governments rushed to seize Russian oligarchs’ yachts. But the idle boats have become a burden for some taxpayers.
Read The Big Take ⬇️ https://t.co/ovoNWOVDES
— Bloomberg (@business) November 7, 2022
“It’s been a public-relations success for Western governments, but legally and, perversely, financially, it’s a total mess,” Bloomberg noted. The agency estimated the annual cost of maintaining one yacht at 10 to 15 percent of its value. In some countries, the money comes from taxpayers, the agency pointed out.
"It can cost 10% to 15% of a yacht’s value to keep it running every year—even using an ultraconservative estimate of 3% of a ship’s value, the US and Italian governments will pay more than $50 million a year to maintain their fleets of arrested megayachts."https://t.co/Y0LNg9KvbX
— Tren Griffin (@trengriffin) November 7, 2022
The upkeep of the Amadeia, docked in San Diego in the US, consists of paying for a crew of engineers to ensure there are no fuel leaks and people to clean the vessel and its water distillation systems, which totals almost USD 10 mln per year.
The yacht was seized in Fiji earlier this year, according to the U.S. administration, and belongs to Western-sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. Worth more than USD 300 mln, the vessel was transported by U.S. services to the port of San Diego at the end of June. On board are, among other things, two pianos, a mosaic-decorated swimming pool and probably one of the last Faberge eggs.
Taxpayers could end up paying for the yachts maintenance for years
The agency estimated that it could take years to decide the future of the yachts. “Some countries may decide to actually confiscate and sell them,” Bloomberg stated giving the example of the U.S. which will do so by using fortitude “a complex process that involves proving to a judge that the asset was acquired with the proceeds of a crime.”
Above all, however, the U.S. needs to prove who really owns the yacht, which is extremely difficult due to the extensive network of shell companies used by Russian oligarchs.
In March, the US and its allies set up a special group to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs REPO (Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs). Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western governments have seized more than 12 yachts linked to oligarchs. They have been valued at at least USD 4 bn, Bloomberg recalled.
https://tvpworld.com/64385120/maintainin...ons-report