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Another Jersey link to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has been uncovered – this time via a $1bn art collection, including works by Monet, Matisse and Picasso.
An investigation by the Guardian published on Friday has revealed how the oligarch amended the ownership structure of the collection – held via a locally domiciled company – to make his ex-wife its majority beneficiary just weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Over nearly a decade, the couple – who divorced in 2017 – acquired more than 350 pieces of art valued at almost $1billion in 2018.
The collection includes works by Monet, Matisse, and Picasso, as well as British contemporary artists including Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and David Hockney.
All are owned by Seline-Invest, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and later redomiciled to Jersey in 2017. Seline-Invest is in turn controlled by Ermis Trust Settlement, a trust set up in Cyprus in 2010 for the sole benefit of Abramovich, according to The Guardian, which is partnered with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
Details of the collection and its secretive ownership structure were revealed in a trove of leaked documents – dubbed 'The Oligarch Files' – from the Cyprus-based financial services firm MeritServus, which was sanctioned by the UK government in April after its close ties to Abramovich and other Russian oligarchs were widely reported.
‘You could fill a museum with it’: the $963m Roman Abramovich art collection revealed https://t.co/H0zhsOiCHv
— The Guardian (@guardian) September 22, 2023
The files show that in January 2021, Abramovich and his ex-wife art collector Dasha Zhukova each held a 50% beneficial interest in the trust.
Under UK, EU and US rules, any asset more than 50% owned by an individual can be frozen under sanctions.
However, on 4 February 2022, three weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich was relegated to a minority beneficiary with 49%.
Less than a month later, on 10 March, Abramovich was hit with sanctions by the UK, leading to the freezing of his assets, including Chelsea football club.
Jersey’s Government pledged to follow the UK in applying sanctions to Russian individuals and companies since the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Pictured: Deputy Moore announced that she had commissioned an independent review shortly after it emerged that the search warrants were obtained unlawfully.
Police officers seconded to the Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit raided two properties allegedly linked to Abramovich in April this year.
This led to Jersey authorities seizing $7billion of assets suspected to be linked to Abramovich.
However, in November it emerged that the raid had been unlawful, and Chief Minister Deputy Kristina Moore ordered an independent 'lessons learned' review.
However, the Government refused to provide further details about when the review would start, who would lead it and its terms of reference.
In June 2022, a US bid to seize two planes worth more than $400m from Abramovich exposed more of the former Chelsea FC owner’s links to Jersey.
The planes – a $350m Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner believed to be one of the world’s most expensive private planes and a $60m Gulfstream G650ER - were beneficially owned by Mr Abramovich through a chain of shell companies, including two based at La Colomberie.
The Dreamliner is owned by a BVI company, in turn owned by Jersey-based Wotton Overseas Holdings Limited.
The Gulfstream, meanwhile, is owned by Clear Skies Flights Limited in Jersey, which is itself owned by Wotton Overseas Holdings.
Pictured: The Boeing, bearing tail number P4-BDL and manufacturer serial number 37306, is believed to be worth around $350m. (DoJ)
A search of Jersey’s company registry by Express showed that both were set up on 30 June 2017, around six months before it was reported that Mr Abramovich had been granted Jersey residency, which he ultimately did not take up.
They are also based at 50 La Colomberie, the same address as Zedra.
50 La Colomberie is also the address of Camberley International Investments, which gave the former parent company of Chelsea FC, Fordstam, loans totalling around £1.5bn. The Jersey company’s involvement complicated the sale of the Stamford Bridge club to LA Dodgers’ part-owner Todd Boehly, and island authorities had to be consulted.
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