Investigative journalists from the Corruption and Organized Crime Investigative Project (OCCRP) have discovered that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich secretly owns at least 10 yachts and vessels through offshore companies and trusts.
This is reported by Forbes.
The documents came from the Cypriot company MeritServus, which is used by Russian oligarchs. According to them, Abramovich transferred ownership of 10 offshore trusts with billions of dollars in assets to his seven children in early February 2022, three weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Forbes has identified ten vessels owned by Abramovich that were not previously attributed to him, bringing the total number of yachts and vessels owned by the oligarch to 16. The eight vessels are small vessels used to service the $427 million Eclipse yacht, which Abramovich owns. Built in 2010, Eclipse is currently moored in the Turkish port of Bodrum along with three other Abramovich yachts.
In addition to service vessels, the 12-meter boat Umbra A, valued at $1 million, and the 24-meter yacht Kewpie, worth $3 million, were found among the assets of the Abramovich family.
The yacht Kewpie is registered in Bermuda and currently based in the French overseas territory of Saint Barthelemy in the Caribbean. This means that the ship can be frozen because Abramovich is under EU sanctions.
On March 10, 2022, Abramovich was included in the sanctions list of Great Britain. Later, on March 15, the European Union introduced restrictions on the entrepreneur. At the same time, the United States did not begin to introduce sanctions against Abramovich after consultations between American President Joe Biden and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. The businessman appeared as an unofficial mediator in an attempt to organize peace talks.
On December 19, 2022, the Canadian government announced the beginning of the process of seizure and confiscation of assets worth $26 million of Granite Capital Holdings Ltd, owned by Abramovich.
- In October, Zelensky signed two decrees on sanctions against Russian oligarchs and Russian companies. Sanctions were imposed for a period of 10 years. Abramovich also fell under the restrictions.