Fleet of Roman Abramovich
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has multiple undisclosed assets, as reported by the Center for the Investigation of Corruption and Organized Crime. (OCCRP), whose founder in Russia was included in the register of foreign and international non-profit organizations whose operations are considered unfavorable. He and his partners, including Forbes USA, cited the data they received. Abramovich owns at least 10 additional yachts and vessels through offshore companies and trust funds, in addition to six yachts worth at least $1 billion, according to the information.
The documents were issued by MeritServus, a Cypriot company providing corporate services to Russian businessmen, and were originally sent to The Guardian – the newspaper’s editors received them from an anonymous third-party source. According to the publication, it emerges from the documents that in February 2022, just three weeks before the start of the “special operation” and a month before the businessman was included in the UK and EU sanctions lists, Abramovich transferred ownership of 10 offshore trust funds with assets worth billions of dollars, including a trust managing his yachts and private jets, to his seven children.
Forbes USA identified 10 vessels owned by Abramovich that were not previously associated with him, bringing their total number to 16. Eight boats are small vessels that, according to journalists, are “used to service” the 162-meter Eclipse megayacht, which Abramovich built in 2010 for $427 million. Eclipse is currently docked in Bodrum, Turkey, and three more of the billionaire’s yachts — the $475 million 140-meter Solaris, $38 million 55-meter Halo, and $20 million 67-meter Garcon — are nearby along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast to the west. A spokesman for Abramovich did not respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the eight service vessels, the documents also show that Abramovich owns a boat called the Umbra A, which, according to a 2016 report, is worth approximately $1 million, but according to experts from the agency VesselsValue, it is about $3 million. The vessel is registered in Bermuda and has been in the overseas possession of France Saint-Barthélemy since the beginning of November. On French territory, Abramovich is not a stranger, as he owns two properties there, one of which was seized by the country’s authorities in April.
This means that Kewpie is also at risk of being arrested, because the yacht is moored in France, and Abramovich is under European Union sanctions. Vessels in Turkey, which has not imposed sanctions on Russia, are not at risk. And the Kewpie isn’t the only ship the Russian tycoon has trouble with. His $11 million, 49m yacht Sussurro has been moored in La Ciotat on the French Riviera for almost a year.
Yacht Sussurro
Another yacht, the $30 million 50m Aquamarine, is apparently still in the Netherlands. Its main owner is a company in the Virgin Islands, the ownership of which Abramovich transferred on February 24, 2022 to business partner David Davidovich.
Yacht Aquamarine
For his yachts and other assets like four jets, six helicopters and luxury villas, Abramovich has built a complex structure of offshore legal entities. Ownership of its fleet of vehicles of 16 ships and 10 aircraft, estimated at $1.6 billion in total, is divided among several firms in offshore zones, including the Virgin Islands, Aruba, and the Isle of Man and Jersey, all of these territories are famous for their confidentiality and low tax rates. According to leaked documents and an arrest warrant for two of Abramovich’s planes issued in June by the US Department of Justice, all of these assets, with the exception of Aquamarine, are owned by the Cyprus-based Europa Settlement Trust.
Until February 4, 2022, Roman Abramovich was the only beneficiary of the trust fund. However, on that day, two representatives of the billionaire (David Davidovich and Tatyana Khaikina) issued a document in which his seven children were declared additional beneficiaries. Four days later, the name of Abramovich was removed from the document altogether, and the trust, along with a collection of yachts and aircraft, went to his children. The final edits were made by February 24th.
David Davidovich
Despite changes in trust fund ownership, Forbes still lists Abramovich as a billionaire and estimates his finances at $8.7 billion. Although the mega-yachts and jets are now formally owned by the oligarch’s children, he still keeps the assets under his own control: March 14 Abramovich flew his Gulfstream G650 from Israel to Istanbul, and the next day went to Moscow.
