The U.S. just seized its first mega-yacht from a Russian oligarch since the war began.
U.S. and Spanish officials announced the seizure of 255-foot mega-yacht known as the Tango in the Spanish port of Palma de Majorca on Monday. The yacht, worth more than $90 million, belongs to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
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The ship reportedly boasts both a swimming pool and an outdoor cinema. With seven luxury cabins, the Tango is large enough to accommodate 14 guests and a crew of 22.
The move against the Tango represents the first time U.S. officials have executed a seizure through the KleptoCapture task force, which was set up after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. U.S. President Joe Biden had promised to track down the “ill-gotten gains” of the mega-rich tycoons close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Video footage released by U.S. officials showed American and Spanish law enforcement officers streaming onto the boat on Monday.
The Tango is hardly the only ultra-luxury item linked to Vekselberg, who Forbes says is worth roughly $6 billion, and who controls vast holdings in utilities, construction, and communications.
Vekselberg is also the Russian billionaire who has famously dropped a fortune returning some of the best-known Russian historical artifacts to their homeland: the Fabergé eggs. In 2004, Vekselberg splashed out roughly $100 million buying nine eggs, which were crafted out of gems and precious metals as royal gifts in Tsarist times.
The move was seen at the time as an attempt to curry favor with Putin, with whom Vekselberg has not been as tightly connected as some other billionaires in Russia, Timothy Frye, chair of the political science department at Columbia University and an expert on post-Soviet affairs, told VICE News previously.
U.S. authorities filed a seizure warrant in U.S. federal court in the District of Columbia that alleged the Tango was subject to forfeiture based on violation of U.S. bank fraud, money laundering, and sanction statutes.
The DOJ said investigators believe Vekselberg bought the Tango in 2011 and used shell companies to hide his ownership. Vekselberg was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2018, but U.S. officials allege that Vekselberg and others working for him made payments through U.S. banks for the support and maintenance of the Tango.
