Documents filed at Companies House over 2022 deal could complicate row with UK over how money will be used
Jersey authorities may be investigating whether cash raised by Roman Abramovich’s 2022 sale of Chelsea FC amounts to the proceeds of crime, according to documents filed at Companies House on Wednesday, potentially complicating a row with the UK government over how the money will be used.
Accounts for Fordstam Ltd, the company through which the billionaire Russian oligarch owned Chelsea, show that the proceeds of the sale – currently frozen and gathering interest in a Barclays bank account – has risen to £2.4bn.
The accounts also reveal that the fate of the money could be affected by a corruption and money-laundering investigation by the Jersey authorities into Abramovich’s business affairs. Abramovich has previously denied any wrongdoing.
As the Guardian and media partners have previously revealed, Abramovich funded Chelsea via loans routed through a complex network of offshore companies, helped by a fortune made from the oilfields of Siberia.
