The Russian oligarch is said to have transferred parts of his fortune to his children before the start of the war.
(Photo: dpa)
London According to a newspaper report, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich transferred assets worth several billion US dollars to his children shortly before the start of his homeland’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This emerges from hacked documents available to the British “Guardian”. Accordingly, ten secret offshore trusts were reorganized in early February last year.
“The sweeping reshuffle of Abramovich’s financial affairs began just days after governments threatened to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs in the event of an invasion,” the report said. Therefore, the question arises whether they were made “to protect the immense wealth of the oligarch from the threat of asset freezes”.
As a result, the children became owners of Abramovich’s status symbols such as luxury real estate, a fleet of super yachts, helicopters and private jets. According to the Guardian, the documents come from hacked data from a Cypriot financial service provider that was leaked to the newspaper. This shows how the oligarch had hidden his assets in complicated structures in tax havens.
In 2021, Abramovich’s fortune was given as $14.5 billion. The Russian was put on the EU and UK sanctions list in March 2022. Unlike those close to Putin, his family members were not subject to sanctions.
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The “Guardian” quoted sanctions experts, according to which the reorganization of his assets may have been designed to circumvent sanctions, but is not illegal. Abramovich and his children did not respond to detailed inquiries from the Guardian, the paper reported.
The former owner of the English Premier League club Chelsea FC disputes having ties to the Kremlin and is trying to take legal action to defend himself against the EU measures.
More: The federal government wants to make life difficult for Russian oligarchs