Roman Abramovich may owe HMRC £1bn for unpaid taxes, analysis shows
Roman Abramovich may owe HMRC £1bn for unpaid taxes, analysis shows
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Exclusive: Leaked papers suggest billionaire’s overseas firms should have paid UK tax on profits from hedge funds. Roman Abramovich, the billionaire Russian oligarch, may owe British tax authorities as much as £1bn, according to analysis of documents that suggests his companies failed to pay tax on profits made through an elaborate offshore investment scheme.
![[Chelsea FC players celebrating a goal]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2da69618bbc082b344f763dc0b9b101f29031853/0_121_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Leaked papers and court filings shed new light on how the income from a $6bn (£4.8bn) cash pile amassed by one of the world’s richest men was managed. The former owner of Chelsea FC entrusted nearly half of his fortune to more than 200 hedge funds, including some of the world’s most prestigious money managers, using a circuitous structure routed through Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the files show.
![[Abramovich with Eugene Shvidle]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fe820b255b8b7067b643e8fd37d12825e87c823a/0_137_2200_1321/master/2200.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The structure endured until at least 2022, when Abramovich was among a group of powerful Kremlin allies hit with sanctions by western governments in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Today, an international investigation by the Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the BBC indicates that while the investments were made by BVI-based companies, they appear to have been controlled for nearly two decades by a senior executive working for Abramovich, who was based in England from 2004.
![[HMRC building in London]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/864b4c5614822d282c7d9ab8d49566843118b9c6/0_192_5122_3074/master/5122.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
