WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The United States won a legal battle 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 U.S. in its attempts to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs around the world. While those efforts are welcomed by many who oppose the war in Ukraine, some actions have tested the limits of U.S. jurisdiction abroad.

In Fiji, the nation’s Supreme Court lifted a stay order that had prevented the seizure of the superyacht Amadea.

Chief Justice Kamal Kumar said the Amadea “sailed into Fiji waters without any permit and most probably to evade prosecution by the United States of America.”

The U.S. removed the motorized vessel within an hour or two of the court’s ruling, possibly to ensure the yacht didn’t get entangled in any further legal action.

In early May, the Justice Department issued a statement saying the Amadea had been seized in Fiji, but lawyers appealed.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the U.S. intended to take the Amadea, which the FBI has linked to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

In court documents, the FBI linked the Amadea to the Kerimov family through their alleged use of code names while aboard and the purchase of items such as a pizza oven and a spa bed.

The ship became a target of Task Force KleptoCapture, launched in March to seize the assets of Russian oligarchs to put pressure on Russia to end the war.

The 348-foot vessel features a live lobster tank, a hand-painted piano, a swimming pool and a helipad.