Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is seen on the stand during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on December 19, 2015 in London, England.
Clive Mason | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The United Kingdom announced Thursday it has frozen assets worth up to £10 billion, or $13 billion, of two Russian oligarchs.
The crackdown on Eugene Tenenbaum and David Davidovich, two close associates of better-known Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, represents the largest asset freeze in British history, according to a government spokesman.
Thursday’s asset freeze comes a day after authorities at offshore tax haven Jersey froze more than $7 billion worth of assets suspected of being linked to Abramovich.
This brings the total value of the frozen assets to up to $20 billion. In addition to the freeze, only Davidovich, not Tenenbaum, was barred from entering Britain.
Jersey is a self-governing Channel Island whose head of state is Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
British officials said the Jersey verdict against Abramovich and British actions against Tanenbaum and Davidovich were coordinated.
The moves aim to cut off potential sources of money that Russian President Vladimir Putin could draw on to fund his botched invasion of Ukraine.
“We are pulling the ratchet on Putin’s war machine and targeting the circle of people closest to the Kremlin,” British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss (below) said in a statement announcing Thursday’s asset freeze. “We will continue with sanctions until Putin fails in Ukraine. Nothing and nobody is off the table.”
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in Warsaw, Poland on April 5, 2022
Mateusz Wlodarczyk | Nurphoto | Getty Images
England, and London in particular, has long served as a hub for Russia’s post-Soviet billionaire class, and several landmarks in the city’s trendiest areas serve as second homes to Russian oligarchs.
But Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine and the international response to it are threatening the financial security that pounds and wealth once represented for Russia’s wealthiest and most connected oligarchs.
British sanctions imposed on Abramovich in March are forcing him to sell prestigious London football club Chelsea. A multi-billion dollar deal to sell the club is reportedly nearing completion, with four bidders still in the running to own one of Europe’s most successful football teams.
Unlike a high-profile asset like Chelsea, the holding companies now controlled by Davidovich and Tenenbaum (below left) represent the other side of Abramovich’s empire that remains largely hidden.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich (R) and director Eugene Tenenbaum (L) celebrate a goal for Chelsea against Bolton Wanderers February 25, 2012 in the Barclays Premier League.
Jed Leicester | Action Pictures | Reuters
International sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine have shed new light on the global maze of shell companies used by Russian oligarchs to disguise the sources and destinations of their wealth.
Last week, relatively small tax havens like Jersey and the Cayman Islands announced freezes on tens of billions of dollars in assets held in their banks by sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
Jersey has long served as a secret tax haven for offshore companies. Some of the world’s wealthiest hide their fortunes on the island in Byzantine labyrinths of shell companies.
David Gossip | Photo Library | Getty Images
Tenenbaum and Davidovich both have interests in a Jersey-registered company called Evrington Investments Limited, which UK authorities say is linked to Abramovich.
Company records show that Abramovich transferred control of Evrington Investments to Tenenbaum on February 24, the same day Russia invaded Ukraine.
Less than a month later, Tenenbaum transferred control of the company to Davidovich.
But it wasn’t just Tenenbaum who took over Abramovich’s fortune on the very day of the invasion.
On February 24, Abramovich transferred control of a separate company, Norma Investments, to Davidovich, according to company records. In the past, Abramovich has used Norma Investments to fund energy startups around the world, The Wall Street Journal reported.
And it wasn’t just businesses.
One of Abramovich’s largest yachts, the Aquamarine, was also transferred to Davidovich on February 24, according to an investigation by The Guardian. Technically, the 150-foot superyacht is owned by a company called MHC Jersey Ltd, which is registered in Jersey.
Davidovich confirmed to the Guardian that he owns both MHC and the yacht itself.