sanction the biggest yacht. we got stopped because this is a big, blue, easily visible, high profile target. for the first time, the head of the us kleptocapture task force reveals how they caught a superyacht. we saw it scrambling out of waters where we would normally be able to seize it. security, security, security. ..and what was inside. one of the objects that we were looking at appears like a faberge egg. there s no place to hide. you can try to move the boat across the ocean, but we ll still come and grab it. this is the inside story of the hunt for the russian superyachts. siren wails russia has invaded ukraine. early this morning, we heard explosions here in the capital, kyiv, and in other major cities.
who d just shot a lion, and it was several minutes before the uniform police officers arrived. boarding the $41; million superyacht phi was the uk s national crime agency. it was gutting, it was heartbreaking. the phi s owner, sergei naumenko, is not on any sanctions list. instead, his yacht was detained on the basis that it is owned, controlled or operated by a person connected with russia. the owner of this vessel is a semi retired, mid level, successful russian businessman. mr naumenko is absolutely not an oligarch and he s not, as described, a close personal friend of vladimir putin. if this were an oligarch s boat, it would be four times the size. the phi was now stuck in canary wharf, unable to move. in the us, the kleptocapture task force had set their sights
in san diego, locals have welcomed a big new attraction. ok, mom. show your boat off! that s mine! the amadea now sits by a fishing pier, awaiting its fate. suleiman kerimov s representative told us, we stand by our statement that ownership of the yacht is denied and unproven. eduard khudainatov has not responded to our request for comment. the us kleptocapture task force says the amadea s story is a warning to other sanctioned oligarchs. your assets certainly are not safe in any country that you want to be spending your time in. you can try to move the boat across the ocean, but we ll still come and grab it. the hunt for the russian superyachts goes on.
into the pacific ocean. we saw it scrambling out of waters where we would normally be able to seize it. it became critical when it turned off its transponder. essentially, the boat tried to go dark. trading intelligence with their international partners, kleptocapture discovered the amadea was en route to fiji. welcoming them there at the port were fijian authorities acting on behalf of the united states government in an effort to actually seize and detain the yacht. soon, the vessel s registered owners filed appeals to get the boat released. but the us government eventually won the legal battle. the goal at that point was to as quickly as possible move that boat from fiji into us waters. it s a long, long journey. having just taken it from an oligarch, it has some serious security risks.
i m a federal prosecutor here in manhattan at the united states attorney s office. at some point, i received a call. just after president biden s speech, andrew adams was appointed to lead a new us government task force called kleptocapture. the goals for us are to target the people who are on the sanctions list, to bring any charge available, to seize any asset available. the idea is to disgorge profits in any way that we can as quickly as we can. so we look for sanctions evasion, we look for money laundering, we look for efforts to avoid export controls that we ve put into place here in the united states. part of the goal here is to unwind the fruits of corruption. part of it, in my mind, is to punish what are, in effect, massive crimes. ourjob as law enforcement officers. andrew adams has built his strategy on his experience prosecuting the mafia.