WELLINGTON, New Zealand—The United States won a legal battle on Tuesday to seize a Russian-owned superyacht in Fiji and wasted no time in taking command of the $325 million vessel and sailing it away from the South Pacific nation.
The court ruling represented a significant victory for the United States as it encounters obstacles in its attempts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs around the world.
In Fiji, the nation’s Supreme Court lifted a stay order which had prevented the United States from seizing the superyacht Amadea.
Chief Justice Kamal Kumar ruled that based on the evidence, the chances of defense lawyers mounting an appeal that the top court would hear were “nil to very slim.”…