Jersey freezes $7bn worth of assets linked to Roman Abramovich

A courtroom within the Channel Island of Jersey has imposed an order freezing greater than $7bn in belongings linked to Roman Abramovich in a major blow to the Russian oligarch’s fortune.

The order comes after the island’s police searched premises “suspected to be related to the enterprise actions of Roman Abramovich”.

“The Royal Court docket additionally imposed a proper freezing order on 12 April . . . over belongings understood to be valued in extra of $7bn, that are suspected to be related to Mr Abramovich,” the federal government stated.

The belongings had been both positioned in Jersey or owned by entities integrated on the island, the assertion stated.

The sheer scale of belongings topic to the freezing order hints on the quantity of wealth Abramovich seems to have sheltered in offshore tax havens, the place opaque company buildings can defend investments from public view. Forbes estimates the oligarch’s internet value at $8.2bn, whereas the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs it greater at $13.9bn.

The $7bn asset freeze in opposition to Abramovich in Jersey is simply shy of the $8bn whole that Switzerland has seized from all 900 Russians on the EU and US sanctions lists.

It’s one other blow to Abramovich, who has been hit with sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine. UK authorities have compelled him to promote Chelsea Soccer Membership and his yachts had been made to go away harbours to keep away from being seized. Buying and selling in shares in Evraz, the steelmaker that earned him his fortune, stays suspended.

Jersey has beforehand stated it was implementing all of the sanctions launched by the UK authorities following the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

“In implementing sanctions, the UK can leverage this unbelievable supply of monetary intelligence it has through the Crown Dependencies and British Abroad Territories,” stated Tom Keatinge, director of the Centre for Monetary Crime and Safety Research on the Royal United Companies Institute think-tank.

“The place Jersey leads, will we see the BVI and others comply with?”

Ian Gorst, Jersey’s minister for exterior relations and monetary providers, stated he couldn’t touch upon issues below “lively consideration” by the dependency’s Legislation Officers’ Division.

“The federal government of Jersey continues to face alongside the UK and worldwide companions and has applied all UK and UN sanctions deployed in response to Russia’s actions in opposition to Ukraine,” Gorst stated. “Our laws to offer pressure to those measures has extreme legal penalties, and any hyperlinks to sanctioned entities or suspected breaches should be reported to the suitable authorities.”

The transfer in opposition to Abramovich is the clearest step but by the Channel Island’s authorities to grab among the billions of {dollars} value of rich Russians’ belongings extensively considered invested within the offshore centre.

Whereas it was not clear on Wednesday which belongings the freeze order affected, Abramovich has moved quite a lot of his investments to Jersey lately from the British Virgin Islands, one other offshore haven.

The newest accounts of Fordstam, the car that controls Chelsea Soccer Membership, present a £1.5bn excellent mortgage to the corporate from Camberley Worldwide Investments. Camberley transferred its registration in 2020 from the BVI to Jersey.

A number of helicopters linked to Abramovich are owned by Jersey-registered entities, as is Sussurro, the primary superyacht the oligarch purchased in 1998. The Guardian reported final week that Abramovich transferred a Jersey car that owned one other yacht — the 50-metre Aquamarine — to his affiliate David Davidovich on the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

These firms are all registered on the Jersey workplaces of Zedra, a company providers supplier that acts for quite a lot of Abramovich-linked entities. Zedra declined to remark.

The Jersey Night Submit reported in 2018 that the Russian oligarch had been granted residency rights on the island, below a scheme for “excessive worth residents”, however Abramovich had issue renewing his UK visa shortly afterwards.

Eugene Tenenbaum, an affiliate of Abramovich who has served as a director of Chelsea because the oligarch took it over in 2003, is a Jersey resident, in response to British company data.

There was no fast response from a spokesman for Abramovich to a request for remark.