2022-04-13, 03:34 PM
Jersey freezes $7bn worth of assets linked to Roman Abramovich
Channel Island’s order is another major blow to sanctions-hit Russian oligarch
A court in the Channel Island of Jersey has imposed an order freezing more than $7bn in assets linked to Roman Abramovich in a significant blow to the Russian oligarch’s fortune.
The order comes after the island’s police searched premises “suspected to be connected to the business activities of Roman Abramovich”.
“The Royal Court also imposed a formal freezing order on 12 April . . . over assets understood to be valued in excess of $7bn, which are suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich,” the government said.
The assets were either located in Jersey or owned by entities incorporated on the island, the statement said.
The sheer scale of assets subject to the freezing order hints at the amount of wealth Abramovich appears to have sheltered in offshore tax havens, where opaque corporate structures can shield investments from public view. Forbes estimates the oligarch’s net worth at $8.2bn, while the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs it higher at $13.9bn.
The $7bn asset freeze against Abramovich in Jersey is just shy of the $8bn total that Switzerland has seized from all 900 Russians on the EU and US sanctions lists.
Separately, the French finance ministry said on Wednesday that it had frozen a total of 33 properties belonging to sanctioned oligarchs. The list of addresses included a chateau in the south of France widely reported to have been bought by Abramovich in the glamorous Cap d’Antibes peninsula in 2001.
The Chateau de la Croë is a 1920s era villa owned that was rented out by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor before the second world war and later owned by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
The freeze by Jersey authorities is another blow to Abramovich, who has been hit with sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine. UK authorities have forced him to sell Chelsea Football Club and his yachts were made to leave harbours to avoid being seized. Trading in shares in Evraz, the steelmaker in which he was a significant shareholder, remains suspended.
Ian Gorst, Jersey’s minister for external relations and financial services, said he could not comment on matters under “active consideration” by the dependency’s Law Officers’ Department.
“The government of Jersey continues to stand alongside the UK and international partners and has implemented all UK and UN sanctions deployed in response to Russia’s actions against Ukraine,” Gorst said. “Our legislation to give force to these measures has severe criminal consequences, and any links to sanctioned entities or suspected breaches must be reported to the appropriate authorities.”
The move against Abramovich is the clearest step yet by the Channel Island’s government to seize some of the billions of dollars worth of wealthy Russians’ assets widely thought to be invested in the offshore centre.
While it was not clear on Wednesday which assets the freeze order affected, Abramovich has moved a number of his investments to Jersey in recent years from the British Virgin Islands, another offshore haven.
The most recent accounts of Fordstam, invaded Ukraine.
These companies are all registered at the Jersey offices of Zedra, a corporate services provider that acts for a number of Abramovich-linked entities. Zedra declined to comment.
The Jersey Evening Post reported in 2018 that the Russian oligarch had been granted residency rights on the island, under a scheme for “high value residents”, but Abramovich had difficulty renewing his UK visa shortly afterwards.
Eugene Tenenbaum, an associate of Abramovich who has served as a director of Chelsea since the oligarch took it over in 2003, is a Jersey resident, according to British corporate records.
There was no immediate response from a spokesman for Abramovich to a request for comment.
https://www.ft.com/content/365b2f7a-2746...eae7dfec51
https://www.wsj.com/articles/roman-abram...1649869040
Channel Island’s order is another major blow to sanctions-hit Russian oligarch
A court in the Channel Island of Jersey has imposed an order freezing more than $7bn in assets linked to Roman Abramovich in a significant blow to the Russian oligarch’s fortune.
The order comes after the island’s police searched premises “suspected to be connected to the business activities of Roman Abramovich”.
“The Royal Court also imposed a formal freezing order on 12 April . . . over assets understood to be valued in excess of $7bn, which are suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich,” the government said.
The assets were either located in Jersey or owned by entities incorporated on the island, the statement said.
The sheer scale of assets subject to the freezing order hints at the amount of wealth Abramovich appears to have sheltered in offshore tax havens, where opaque corporate structures can shield investments from public view. Forbes estimates the oligarch’s net worth at $8.2bn, while the Bloomberg Billionaires Index pegs it higher at $13.9bn.
The $7bn asset freeze against Abramovich in Jersey is just shy of the $8bn total that Switzerland has seized from all 900 Russians on the EU and US sanctions lists.
Separately, the French finance ministry said on Wednesday that it had frozen a total of 33 properties belonging to sanctioned oligarchs. The list of addresses included a chateau in the south of France widely reported to have been bought by Abramovich in the glamorous Cap d’Antibes peninsula in 2001.
The Chateau de la Croë is a 1920s era villa owned that was rented out by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor before the second world war and later owned by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
The freeze by Jersey authorities is another blow to Abramovich, who has been hit with sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine. UK authorities have forced him to sell Chelsea Football Club and his yachts were made to leave harbours to avoid being seized. Trading in shares in Evraz, the steelmaker in which he was a significant shareholder, remains suspended.
Ian Gorst, Jersey’s minister for external relations and financial services, said he could not comment on matters under “active consideration” by the dependency’s Law Officers’ Department.
“The government of Jersey continues to stand alongside the UK and international partners and has implemented all UK and UN sanctions deployed in response to Russia’s actions against Ukraine,” Gorst said. “Our legislation to give force to these measures has severe criminal consequences, and any links to sanctioned entities or suspected breaches must be reported to the appropriate authorities.”
The move against Abramovich is the clearest step yet by the Channel Island’s government to seize some of the billions of dollars worth of wealthy Russians’ assets widely thought to be invested in the offshore centre.
While it was not clear on Wednesday which assets the freeze order affected, Abramovich has moved a number of his investments to Jersey in recent years from the British Virgin Islands, another offshore haven.
The most recent accounts of Fordstam, invaded Ukraine.
These companies are all registered at the Jersey offices of Zedra, a corporate services provider that acts for a number of Abramovich-linked entities. Zedra declined to comment.
The Jersey Evening Post reported in 2018 that the Russian oligarch had been granted residency rights on the island, under a scheme for “high value residents”, but Abramovich had difficulty renewing his UK visa shortly afterwards.
Eugene Tenenbaum, an associate of Abramovich who has served as a director of Chelsea since the oligarch took it over in 2003, is a Jersey resident, according to British corporate records.
There was no immediate response from a spokesman for Abramovich to a request for comment.
https://www.ft.com/content/365b2f7a-2746...eae7dfec51
https://www.wsj.com/articles/roman-abram...1649869040
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Đời vô thường giả tạm hư không
Ngũ uẩn: “Sắc bất dị không”
An nhiên tự tại cho lòng thảnh thơi.
-CT-
願得一心人,
白頭不相離.