It seems that a notorious figure was carrying a valuable item on their person.
As per a report by Bloomberg, the US Department of Justice has uncovered what is believed to be a Fabergé egg on a superyacht owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch. The egg, considered one of the more “interesting” finds by the sanctions-led investigators, was found aboard a multi-million-dollar vessel recently impounded in Fiji. The vessel, which is now docked in San Diego Bay, has not been officially named by the department..
Although the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the vessel’s identity, all indications point to the $325 million Amadea. The Lürssen megayacht, which measures 350 feet and is allegedly owned by sanctioned Russian magnate Suleiman Kerimov, was sailed from Fiji to San Diego by US law enforcement officials in late June after a prolonged legal fight over the yacht’s ownership.
Kerimov, who is closely connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin, is thought to be one of the few private Fabergé egg collectors who are not publicly identified. Fabergé eggs were created by the House of Fabergé between 1885 and 1917 for members of the Russian royal family and other affluent individuals. Only around 57 of the 69 eggs created are thought to have survived. The coveted, jewel-encrusted rarities have become symbols of luxury valued in the tens of millions of dollars. (The egg pictured above is the Spring Flowers Egg from 1899.)
The egg is only one of the assets confiscated as part of the Justice Department’s “KleptoCapture” campaign, which targets sanctioned Russians. The multinational task force REPO (Russian Elites, Proxies, and Oligarchs) has seized billions of dollars’ worth of assets since March, as reported by The Guardian.
