{"id":526216,"date":"2026-03-10T06:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/526216\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T06:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T06:33:10","slug":"roman-abramovich-ready-to-fight-uk-government-over-proceeds-from-2-5bn-chelsea-sale-roman-abramovich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/526216\/","title":{"rendered":"Roman Abramovich ready to fight UK government over proceeds from \u00a32.5bn Chelsea sale | Roman Abramovich"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich<\/a> has stepped up his row with the British government over the \u00a32.5bn proceeds of his sale of Chelsea FC, insisting that the money is his to allocate despite the international sanctions imposed on his assets.<\/p>\n

The UK and EU imposed sanctions on Abramovich in 2022, freezing his assets in response to Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine<\/a>, citing his ties to Vladimir Putin\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

The move triggered a rushed sale of the Premier League club to a consortium<\/a> led by the US businessman Todd Boehly.<\/p>\n

However, the \u00a32.5bn raised by the sale has remained locked in a UK bank account<\/a> since then because of a dispute about how it should be used.<\/p>\n

Britain wants the money to be ringfenced for use only in Ukraine, in line with a wider European push for Moscow to foot the bill for the devastation caused by its invasion.<\/p>\n

However, Abramovich has indicated that he wants more flexibility over how the money would be spent.<\/p>\n

When he announced his intention to sell the club in March 2022, he said the proceeds would be used \u201cfor the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine\u201d, leaving open the possibility that money could be diverted to Russian recipients.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Abramovich\u2019s lawyers at Kobre & Kim said the cash was still \u201cwholly owned\u201d by Fordstam Ltd, the vehicle through which the billionaire funded Chelsea, channelling cash from controversial oil deals through a maze of offshore companies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the letter, sent ahead of a 17 March deadline set by the UK government, the lawyers accused ministers of making \u201cpolitically charged and highly publicised statements\u201d about the oligarch.<\/p>\n

They said Abramovich remained fully committed to using the money for charitable purposes, and the government\u2019s restrictions on how it can be spent were to blame for the delay.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK government appears to be treating this proposed donation as a form of punitive measure against Mr Abramovich,\u201d the lawyers said in the letter, seen by Reuters.<\/p>\n

In response to the letter, Britain\u2019s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: \u201cThis money was promised to Ukraine over three years ago. It is time Roman Abramovich does the right thing but if he won\u2019t we will act\u201d.<\/p>\n

The British government warned Abramovich last year he must release the cash, or he could be taken to court.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer said in December \u201cthe clock is ticking\u201d over finding a resolution.<\/p>\n

However, Abramovich\u2019s lawyers said if the government opened formal confiscation proceedings it would be contested in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposal to donate these proceeds was initiated by Mr Abramovich prior to the imposition of sanctions, and he remains fully committed to ensuring that the funds are used for charitable purposes,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich has stepped up his row with the British government over the \u00a32.5bn proceeds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-526216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}