US Wins Authority to Seize Russian Oligarch’s Planes

Russian billionaire and owner of Chelsea football club Roman Abramovich arrives at a division of the High Court in central London on Oct. 31, 2011. Andrew Winning/Reuters

NEW YORK—A U.S. court on Monday issued warrants for the seizure of two luxury planes owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich under U.S. measures imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, court records showed.

But the U.S. government’s likelihood of gaining control of the aircraft worth nearly $400 million was uncertain.