US issues seizure warrant for two planes ‘owned and controlled by Roman Abramovich’ worth £320m
The United States has issued a warrant for the seizure of two jets owned by Roman Abramovich worth £320m ($400m).
The ex-Chelsea owner’s $350m Boeing and $60m Gulfstream are now “subject to seizure and forfeiture” owing to violations of export controls set up by Joe Biden, to put pressure on Russia.
Both planes were flown into Russian airspace since the start of the war with Ukraine, with the Boeing believed to be in Dubai and Gulfstream now reportedly in Moscow.
This breached the US’s Export Control Reform Act (ECRA) and sanctions against Russia, despite Abramovich not being personally sanctioned by the US, as he has been in the UK, which forced his sale of Chelsea FC.
According to the report issued by the Department for Justice, both jets are “owned and controlled by Roman Abramovich, a Russia national, through a series of shell companies in Cyprus, Jersey, and the British Virgin Islands.”
Hundreds of billions of Russian oligarch assets have been seized by the US, UK, EU and other countries since the start of the war with Ukraine.