Amadea yacht sale reportedly brought $187 million from Abbas Sajwani
CNBC says a government document identifies Abbas Sajwani as buyer of the seized yacht, though the Marshals Service did not name a winner.
By Jordan Bell · Startups & Deals Reporter
· 3 min read
The Amadea yacht sale reportedly brought $187 million for the U.S. government, with CNBC reporting that government documents identify Dubai real-estate entrepreneur Abbas Sajwani as the buyer. The sale closes a costly four-year episode for a vessel seized amid sanctions enforcement against Russian oligarchs, while leaving key official details undisclosed.
The U.S. Marshals Service, which handled the sealed-bid sale, has not publicly named the winning bidder or disclosed the price. A Marshals Service spokesperson told CNBC the agency generally withholds buyer identities under federal privacy exemptions unless a court orders their release.
CNBC identified Sajwani, 27, as the son of Dubai property tycoon Hussain Sajwani. Forbes separately reported that Abbas Sajwani said he bought Amadea at a secret U.S. government auction held the previous September.
Who bought Amadea and what is the Trump connection?
CNBC reported that registration records showed Amadea was registered a month after the sale to Beyond Holding Group Ltd., a British Virgin Islands company whose listed Dubai headquarters address matched that of DAMAC, Hussain Sajwani's property group. Earlier reporting by Business Insider Africa said the entity had previously been called AHS Four Company Limited, another connection cited in reporting on the Sajwani family.
The link to President Donald Trump runs through Hussain Sajwani and DAMAC, not through the auction process. CNBC reported that DAMAC has partnered with the Trump Organization. It also reported that Hussain Sajwani appeared with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2025, when one of Sajwani's companies announced a planned $20 billion investment in U.S. data centers. CNBC said the Justice Department and the White House declined to comment, while Hussain Sajwani, Abbas Sajwani and DAMAC did not respond to its requests.
Why did the U.S. government have Amadea?
Federal authorities seized the 348-foot yacht in Fiji in 2022 as the U.S. escalated sanctions enforcement following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Justice Department alleged that Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian mining tycoon sanctioned since 2018, was its beneficial owner. That allegation was central to the ensuing civil-forfeiture case; it should not be read as a finding that the yacht was conclusively owned by Kerimov.
CNBC reported that a court ordered an auction on Sept. 10, 2025, and that the sale took place about a month later. During the legal dispute and federal custody, maintaining the yacht, crew, insurance and dockage cost an estimated $600,000 to $1 million a month, or roughly $36 million in total, according to CNBC's account of government costs.
The $187 million reported price was $43 million below an independent $230 million valuation cited in a 2024 Justice Department filing, about 19% lower. Earlier Justice Department filings had put Amadea's value at more than $300 million, or in a $300 million to $500 million range. Those figures are estimates from different filings, so the comparison does not establish a taxpayer gain or loss. CNBC said the government had not announced how it would use the sale proceeds.
This story draws on original reporting from CNBC.
