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Russian oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is under criminal investigation on the island of Jersey over suspicions that he was involved in corruption and money laundering linked to the source of his wealth, according to a recent article by The Guardian that cited documents from Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court. Representatives for Abramovich deny that any probe is underway.
According to the British newspaper, investigators are seeking to determine the origin and legality of Abramovich’s fortune, which he built in Russia in the 1990s and 2000s.
Jersey, a British Crown dependency located in the English Channel, filed a request for criminal assistance with Switzerland in June 2022, according to the compliance services firm Comsure. Lawyers for Abramovich appealed to block the transfer of the records, but a Swiss court rejected the appeal in May.
The island is one of the offshore jurisdictions where firms linked to Abramovich have been registered. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, local authorities froze assets tied to the oligarch worth about $7 billion, according to The Guardian.
Swiss judges have now approved a request from Jersey prosecutors for access to banking records in their money laundering and sanctions probe into the billionaire.
One case under review involves money Abramovich allegedly laundered from the 2005 sale of Russian oil major Sibneft. Abramovich bought Sibneft for roughly $100 million in 1995 and later sold most of it to the state-owned energy giant Gazprom for $13 billion. Authorities in Jersey allege the proceeds from the deal were moved through local trusts and companies, according to Comsure.
Another case relates to suspected sanctions violations stemming from transfers Abramovich allegedly made after being placed on international sanctions lists in 2022.
The court in Switzerland ruled that Jersey had shown enough evidence “to substantiate the allegation of money laundering with bribery as a predicate offence”. They continued:
“Billions of dollars in assets were transferred transnationally via various offshore companies, trusts, and banks, including to Switzerland, without any discernible economic reason. Such actions are likely to thwart the identification, discovery, or confiscation of assets. Whether the assets are of legal origin, as the complainant appears to claim, cannot be assessed at this point; this will be the subject of the criminal proceedings in Jersey.”
In comments to The Guardian, Abramovich’s lawyers denied the allegations and said their client had not been charged with any crime.
The Guardian’s report was published on Sunday, Sept. 7. On Monday, Sept. 8, Abramovich’s representative told the Russian outlet RBC that no charges had been filed against him and that “no criminal proceedings related to his name” were underway in Jersey. He also said any claims of the businessman’s involvement in criminal activity were “not true.”
Abramovich holds Russian, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship and has been sanctioned by the EU, UK, and Canada, though not by the United States. The UK, whose sanctions on Russia are automatically enforced in Jersey, said it targeted Abramovich as one of several oligarchs “closely associated” with Vladimir Putin’s regime. The oligarch, whose fortune is estimated at $9.2 billion, denies having any financial links to the Kremlin.