Roman Abramovich has had more than £5.4bn of his assets frozen in Jersey and 12 luxury properties – including a near-£100m villa on the Riviera that was once the holiday home of King Edward VIII – seized by the French government.
The Royal Court of Jersey announced on Wednesday that it had imposed a formal freezing order on “assets understood to be valued in excess of US$7bn, which are suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich and which are either located in Jersey or owned by Jersey incorporated entities”.
The Russian oligarch and Chelsea FC owner was also hit by another crackdown in France on the assets of individuals affected by sanctions. The economy and finance ministry announced on Wednesday that it had seized 33 properties owned by oligarchs who had been hit by sanctions, including a dozen belonging to Abramovich.
“They include homes, superyachts and helicopters, and add up to well over €25bn,” a French finance ministry source said. “There are 33 properties that have been frozen, including a dozen belonging to Roman Abramovich.”
Among the properties seized is Abramovich’s Château de la Croë villa in Cap d’Antibes, which has eight bedrooms, a 15-metre rooftop pool, gym and cinema. The villa, which was built in 1926, is set in 12 acres of manicured lawns overlooking the Mediterranean. High-end estate agents estimate the property is now worth £90m-£100m.
Abramovich was subjected to UK sanctions on 10 March after ministers accused him of having “clear connections” to Putin’s regime and being among a group of rich Russian businessmen who had “blood on their hands”.
However, the UK has not seized any of Abramovich’s UK properties, which include a £120m mansion on Kensington Palace Gardens just behind the royal palace. His family have amassed a UK property collection worth more than £250m, numbering about 70 homes, buildings and pieces of land. The UK is forcing him to sell Chelsea FC, which he bought in 2003 for about £140m.
The government of Jersey said local police had raided several properties linked to Abramovich on Tuesday. “Search warrants were executed by the states of Jersey police on Tuesday 12 April 2022 at premises in Jersey suspected to be connected to the business activities of Roman Abramovich,” the island’s Law Officers’ Department said.
Jersey is a self-governing British crown dependency favoured by the world’s wealthy for its very low taxes and reputation for strict banking secrecy.
The Guardian last week revealed that a company that owns a 50-metre superyacht linked to Abramovich had been transferred to a Jersey company on the day of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The department would not comment on the yacht, and said it would not be providing any further details. A spokesperson for Abramovich did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The yacht, Aquamarine, is the fifth vessel to have been linked to Abramovich. On 24 February, ownership of the yacht passed from a company previously controlled by Abramovich to a close associate of his, the Russian businessman David Davidovich.
Davidovich said he was the owner of Aquamarine as well as the Jersey-domiciled company MHC Jersey, which is registered as the owner of the yacht on the maritime database MarineTraffic.
Jersey has vowed to follow the UK’s sanction regime and to “take targeted measures to prevent Jersey services providers or structures being abused”.
Last month the island’s external relations minister, Ian Gorst, said the Jersey Financial Services Commission and the island’s police would cooperate “with international authorities, in particular those in the UK and across the transatlantic taskforce, where potential activities or assets are identified”.
This month, Antigua and Barbuda said it was willing to help seize two superyachts owned by Abramovich docked in its ports.
Abramovich’s Riviera villa was once the holiday home of Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, after he abdicated in 1936. The duke and his wife, Wallis Simpson, hosted Churchill’s 40th wedding anniversary at the mansion in 1948.
The French authorities did not specify all of the oligarchs’ properties that had been seized but said several other large villas in Saint-Tropez and Cannes had also been targeted as well as luxury Alpine chalets in Meribel and other luxury ski resorts.
