Abramovich’s hidden billions: what the oligarch hid from sanctions

After the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict in February 2022, Roman Abramovich was subject to sanctions by the EU, the UK and Canada. Against this background, he was forced to sell the Chelsea club in May, but the funds ended up in a frozen account. Now the British authorities are going to transfer 2.3 billion pounds to a charitable foundation designed to help the victims of the Ukrainian conflict. True, according to The Telegraph, London is waiting for a “green light” to this initiative from the EU, since Abramovich is also under European sanctions.

The restrictions imposed by the Western powers on the Russian oligarch affected not only Chelsea.

In June, a US court ordered the seizure of two planes worth more than $400 million believed to be Abramovich’s. The lawsuit stated that the Boeing 787 Dreamliner of the former owner of the Chelsea football club was in the UAE.

And in December, there were reports that Canadian authorities had promised to seize the assets of the firm owned by Abramovich, worth $26 million. Ottawa said it would go to court to acquire Abramovich’s Granite Capital shares and use the proceeds to rebuild Ukraine.

But judging by some information that appeared in the Western media, Abramovich is not all that bad.

The billionaire transferred ownership of 10 offshore trusts with billions of dollars in assets, including the trust that owns his yachts and private jets, to his seven children in early February 2022, about a month before, according to documents obtained by The Guardian from Cypriot corporate services provider MeritServus. how sanctions were imposed on Abramovich by the UK and the EU.

In early January, Forbes published an article in which, citing leaked documents, he said: the billionaire owns at least 10 more yachts and ships through offshore companies and trusts – in addition to the already known six yachts worth at least $ 1 billion.

According to Forbes, the Eclipse yacht is moored in the Turkish port of Bodrum, while three more Abramovich’s yachts – the $475 million Solaris, the $38 million Halo and the $20 million Garcon – are anchored nearby along Turkey’s western Mediterranean coast.

Abramovich owns a Bluegame motorboat called Umbra A, valued at about $1 million in a 2016 annual report.

The 80-foot Kewpie worth about $3 million was named the most valuable of the previously unregistered yachts in the Forbes publication. The vessel is registered in Bermuda and is located in the French overseas territory of St. Barthélemy (St. Barts), where it has been moored since early November.

According to Forbes, Abramovich owns two properties on the island, one of which was frozen by the French authorities in April 2022. This means that the Kewpie yacht – unlike the megayachts in Turkey, which has not imposed sanctions against Russian oligarchs – could also be “frozen”, because it is on French territory, and Abramovich is under EU sanctions.

The Kewpie yacht is not the only Abramovich vessel that may have problems, Forbes notes. The Sussurro, valued at $11 million, has been docked at La Ciotat on the French Riviera for nearly a year. Another yacht, the $30 million Aquamarine, appears to still be in the Netherlands. But, writes Forbes, the ultimate owner of Aquamarine is a company based in the British Virgin Islands, which Abramovich transferred to his business partner David Davidovich on February 24, 2022.

Abramovich has a complex offshore structure for yachts and other assets, including four jets, six helicopters, luxury villas and estates, Forbes says.

And according to The Guardian, Abramovich and his family, as of 2022, controlled property worth more than £250 million in the UK, which included about 70 buildings and land.

Despite all the changes that have taken place since last February, Forbes still considers Abramovich a billionaire, suggesting that his fortune reaches $ 8.7 billion (for comparison, according to the rating published by the publication in April 2021, Roman Arkadievich’s fortune was estimated at 14 .5 billion dollars). And while the megayachts and jets are now technically owned by his children, the oligarch still appears to be in control: Abramovich flew his Gulfstream G650 from Israel to Istanbul on March 14 last year and flew to Moscow the next day.

According to the Israeli publication Times of Israel, Abramovich was photographed in early January while visiting the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem – the billionaire visited there about his son’s bar mitzvah. Roman Abramovich has been seen several times in Israel since the start of the conflict in Ukraine.

He reportedly took Israeli citizenship back in 2018, though it’s unclear how much time he spends in the country.

In the fall, Turkish media wrote about Abramovich quite often, actively suggesting that the billionaire began to make plans to settle in Istanbul. The articles said that the tycoon was allegedly eyeing a mansion on the waterfront for purchase.

The paparazzi photographed Abramovich’s walks, accompanied by bodyguards in Istanbul. “He drinks coffee at a place in the Rumelihisari area and is going for a walk in the Bebek area,” the local press said.

“There are several other countries that want to accept Abramovich, but Istanbul has fascinated him,” Kelebek wrote in October, a supplement to the Daily Hürriyet newspaper. “The billionaire, who is currently visiting the city, has decided to become a Istanbulite.”

Moreover, the same publication assured readers that Abramovich, forced to leave Chelsea due to sanctions, was looking for a football team in Turkey to buy. And allegedly already “maintains close contacts with some Turkish teams.”

Representatives of Abramovich said that the billionaire does not intend to acquire a local club, is not looking for a house in Istanbul and does not intend to make Istanbul’s Bebek district his residence. However, in January, some Turkish newspapers continued to discuss the possible purchase of one of the football teams by Abramovich.