London: Just before he was subject to sanctions, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's seven children were made the beneficiaries of ten offshore trusts holding assets worth billions of dollars, according to a Friday report in the British newspaper The Guardian.
Three weeks prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early February 2022, they acquired the beneficial ownership of the covert trusts with assets worth at least $4 billion, according to the Guardian.
Leaked documents from a Cyprus-based offshore service provider managing the trusts provide details on the "sweeping reorganisation" of Abramovich's financial affairs just before he was subsequently sanctioned, the newspaper reported.
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The "large cache" of papers known as "the Oligarch files" were provided to the newspaper by an unnamed source, according to the report.
They demonstrate that the trusts' majority beneficial owners became Abramovich's children, the youngest of whom is nine years old and five of whom are adults. The restructuring took place as Western governments threatened to impose sanctions on Russian oligarchs in the event that Moscow authorised an invasion of Ukraine.
It was previously reported that two trusts created for Abramovich's benefit had named his children as beneficiaries. His children are all Russian citizens. The magnitude of the changes, however, was not previously understood.
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According to the Guardian, "The leaked documents raise concerns about whether the changes to trusts were made in an effort to protect the oligarch's sizable fortune from the threat of asset freezes.
The reorganisation, according to the newspaper, could make it more difficult to impose sanctions against Abramovich and increase calls for asset freezes to also apply to his children.
The 56-year-old former owner of Chelsea Football Club is regarded as Putin's close ally and has been sanctioned by Canada, the EU, and Britain but not by the US.
However, two of his aircraft were seized by the US Justice Department last year after it was determined that they had been used in violation of Moscow's sanctions regarding the Ukraine. According to the Guardian, Abramovich's seven children now appear to be the ultimate beneficial owners of several trophy assets that have been long associated with him through the ten trusts.
Many opulent homes, superyachts, helicopters, and other private jets are among them. Their beneficial ownership stakes in the trusts ranged from a combined 51 percent to 100 percent in some cases following the changes implemented about a month before the UK government sanctioned him on March 10, the paper added.
Abramovich and MeritServus, the offshore service provider with a Cyprus address that manages the trusts, declined to comment on the arrangements when questioned by the newspaper. Privacy laws were cited by MeritServus.
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Abramovich, who is dual-nationality Russian, Israeli, and Portuguese, has filed a lawsuit to challenge the EU's actions and denied having any financial ties to the Kremlin.