The superyacht seized from a Russian oligarch has reached a billionaire from Dubai, close to Trump. The US couldn't wait to get rid of him
Donald Trump and Hussain Sajwani. Credit line: SCOTT OLSON / Getty images / Profimedia
A company linked to a Dubai billionaire close to US President Donald Trump has bought the superyacht Amadea, seized in 2022 by Washington from Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov, reports Business Insider.
The sale of the Amadea, a 106-metre luxury yacht that the US said it seized from sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov in Fiji in 2022, was completed in October.
The new filings reveal that an entity linked to Hussain Sajwani and his Emirati real estate developer Damac Group is behind the purchase.
As of October 10, the owner of the yacht was registered as Beyond Holdings Group Limited, a company based in the British Virgin Islands – a jurisdiction frequently chosen by superyacht owners due to its favorable tax policy and strict privacy rules.
The headquarters of Beyond Holdings Group is located in Dubai on the 20th floor of the Executive Heights tower, the exact same address where the headquarters of Damac, owned by billionaire Sajwani, is registered, according to Bloomberg.
At the time of the seizure, the US Department of Justice estimated the value of the Amadea yacht at at least $300 million, but a subsequent appraisal reduced the price to about $230 million. The amount obtained at the auction was not made public.
The costs of maintaining the yacht—including crew wages, fuel, insurance and more—reached nearly $1 million a month for American taxpayers at one point, so the government was eager to get rid of it. Seized yachts are complex assets as ownership can be contested.
Who is Hussain Sajwani
Hussain Sajwani, whose fortune is $13.3 billion, according to Bloomberg, has several ties to President Trump.
In the opening of his Instagram account, Hussain Sajwani pinned a video taken in January at Mar-a-Lago, where he and Trump announced that Damac subsidiary Edgnex Data Centers would invest $20 billion in the United States.
Soon after, Hussain Sajwani and his son Abbas attended events related to Trump's 2025 inauguration ceremony, including a ball.
Other posts over the past year show photos of them in the Oval Office, in the United Arab Emirates during an official visit, and in Scotland at Trump's Turnberry golf course.
Their partnership dates back over a decade, when Damac signed a deal to develop two Trump-branded golf courses in Dubai. However, Trump also refused some proposals for collaboration with Sajwani.
