Deputy US Attorney General Lisa Monaco told the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday that it was one of the most “interesting” findings her team made. “Let’s get to the juicy stuff: the yachts,” he said at the forum devoted to discussing the role of law enforcement in freezing and seizing Russian assets. “We’re finding some really interesting things… we recovered a Fabergé – or supposed Fabergé egg – in one of them [yachts] so it becomes more and more interesting.” Monaco did not specify exactly which yacht it was referring to, but said it was currently docked in San Diego Bay after having sailed from Fiji last month. A $300 million yacht called the Amadea was sailed by US law enforcement officials from Fiji to San Diego late last month after a lengthy legal dispute over its ownership by a Russian oligarch. “We are working with our law enforcement counterparts around the world to search these yachts to make sure we have the authority and can go to court, seize them and then forfeit the proceeds,” he added. Monaco said that if the egg is found to be authentic it would make it one of the few remaining in the world and worth millions of dollars. Fabergé eggs have become a byword for opulence and luxury since the young jeweler was commissioned by Czar Alexander III of Russia in 1885 to make one as a gift for his wife, Maria. It became a Romanov tradition for the next three decades. Fabergé only created 50 eggs for the imperial family and not all survived. As part of the US Department of Justice’s “KleptoCapture” initiative and a multinational task force called Repo – Russian Elites, Plenipotentiaries and Oligarchs – the US and its allies have seized billions of dollars worth of sanctioned Russian assets since March, according to the finance ministry. Monaco told the forum that it supported the idea that the proceeds of the seized assets should be forfeited, potentially funneled back to Ukraine, and that it had sought congressional authorization to do so.
