The FBI crossed nearly 5,000 miles to help seize Tango, a 255-foot Feadship superyacht, in Palma de Mallorca in April 2022. Valued at around $90 million, the luxury vessel was allegedly owned by sanctioned Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg and had been undergoing work at Astilleros de Mallorca when Spanish and American authorities boarded her. What was presented as a dramatic display of financial enforcement has since turned into an unusually expensive exercise in simply keeping a luxury yacht afloat. More than four years later, Tango is still sitting in Palma with no sale in sight and very little to show for the millions spent on her.
The cost of maintaining the Tango is being borne by American taxpayers, as reported by the Washington Post. The superyacht’s near half-decade of immobilization has quietly piled up a massive bill just to keep her in working condition. Forbes estimates that the bill reached roughly $14 million over 51 months by July 2026. That works out to about $274,500 every month, $3.29 million a year, or close to $9,000 every day. The figure is striking because it represents roughly 15.5% of Tango’s estimated $90 million value, even though the yacht has spent most of that time doing essentially nothing. Previous estimates were substantially higher, with a report published at the beginning of 2026 putting the total at approximately $43 million. The gap between the two figures appears to reflect different accounting methods and estimates rather than a straightforward change in Tango’s actual costs.
The expensive business of keeping Tango idle
Tango may be motionless, but a 255-foot superyacht cannot simply be switched off and left alone. Forbes reported that a minimum crew of around 10 people could still be seen aboard the vessel in Palma, compared with her normal crew capacity of about 22. Salaries, food, insurance, fuel, maintenance and an expensive berth all continue to add up while the yacht remains under custody. Her only confirmed movement since the seizure came on September 1, 2022, when she was towed roughly 100 meters from the shipyard to Club de Mar, where she remains immobilized. Recent AIS data continues to place her inside the port at zero knots.
The reason for the continuing expense is simple enough, even if the bill is not. Engines and generators need periodic attention, while electricity, ventilation, air conditioning, pumps, alarms, sewage systems and fire protection cannot simply be abandoned without risking costly deterioration. A superyacht like Tango is essentially a floating hotel combined with a small power station, and keeping its systems functional requires specialist workers even when there are no guests aboard. Club de Mar also ranks among the Mediterranean’s most expensive marinas, adding a substantial berthing charge to the running costs. The longer the yacht sits unused, the harder it becomes to justify spending millions simply to preserve an asset that Washington has yet to sell.
Tango itself remains an impressive machine beneath all the legal complications. Built by Feadship, she measures more than 2000 gross tons and is powered by four MTU engines capable of pushing her beyond 21 knots. Her design by Harrison Eidsgaard gives her a distinctive profile, while the interior and exterior amenities include a contraflow swimming pool, spa, beach club, outdoor cinema, private owner’s deck, helipad and custom tenders.
Her Lloyd’s Register classification was withdrawn in March 2022, although that alone does not establish that the yacht has been neglected or is unsafe. It does, however, add another complication to the prospect of returning such an unusual asset to normal operation or finding a straightforward buyer.
Four years later, the bill keeps growing
The biggest problem is that the United States still has not completed the forfeiture process or sold Tango. Seizure does not automatically give Washington an uncomplicated path to dispose of the yacht, and reports from Mallorca indicate that several attempts to arrange a sale have failed despite negotiations reportedly coming close to completion.
The yacht remains registered to Arinter Management Inc., while operational management continues to be associated with Palma-based Master Yachts Safety. Meanwhile, the federal task force that initiated the seizure, KleptoCapture, was disbanded in 2025, leaving Tango caught in a legal process that has outlasted the agency most closely associated with her seizure. No proceeds from Tango have reached Ukraine.
That leaves American taxpayers paying to preserve a $90 million superyacht whose primary achievement in recent years has been remaining exactly where it was placed. Forbes’ $14 million estimate is far below the approximately $43 million figure reported at the beginning of 2026, but even the lower number is difficult to ignore. At roughly $9,000 a day, Tango is effectively a floating expense account sitting quietly in a Spanish marina. Until the legal process produces a final outcome, every additional month at Club de Mar means another bill for a yacht that has barely moved since the day the FBI helped take control of it.