US authorities appear closer to adding Roman Abramovich to their list of sanctioned hyper-rich Russians, after reports surfaced of a complex transaction of funds through a US hedge fund that was linked to the UK- and European-sanctioned owner of Chelsea football club.
Abramovich, reputedly the one-time steward on Boris Yeltsin’s plane, and tapped by the then up-and-coming Vladimir Putin to manage Russian state-owned energy assets, was reported by the New York Times on Monday to be behind a $20m transfer from a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands to an investment vehicle in the Cayman Islands controlled by a US hedge fund.
