russian yacht cyprus

• GREEK EDITION

Futuristic mega yacht back in Cyprus

Russian billionaire’s sailing yacht a reaches polis chrysochous on vacay.

The futuristic mega yacht owned by a Russian industrialist is drawing attention once again in Cyprus, with maritime maps showing the Sailing Yacht A anchored in Chrysochou Bay on Monday morning.

Billionaire globetrotter Andrey Melnichenko, whose real net worth is estimated at $23.6 billion -roughly equal to Cyprus’ Gross Domestic Product for the year 2021- has been known to sail to his vacation spots in style.

Melnichenko’s mega yacht with three impressive mammoth masts as its calling card has been seen off Limassol and Larnaca in the past, while data from maritime traffic on Monday showed the Sailing Yacht A was seen from Kato Paphos moving northbound where it dropped anchor off Polis Chrysochous.

The incredible 142m vessel cost well over $400 million and was delivered in 2017. It was designed by French designer Philippe Starck who had also designed Melnichenko’s previous yacht.

Officially described as a sail-assisted motor yacht, this divisive design comprises eight decks, with an underwater observation deck hidden in the bulbous bow. Sailing Yacht A boasts the tallest carbon masts in the world, each measuring in at more than 90 meters long.

Curious boat collides with mega yacht

Back in April, a small family boat sailed into the side of the mega yacht in Spain, with the captain filing only an incident report per maritime regulations.

It was later reported that the family wanted to take a peek at how the rich and famous lived.

But years earlier the Russian billionaire had told media he was not a celebrity and that he wanted to maintain a private life.

“Where I live, how I spend my days, where I go... this is what I mean by private life. I am a happy man in that life. There are parts of one’s life, which do not need to be shared with others. I am not a celebrity and I am not remunerated for the recognition. I don’t need to be allowed into the club without a ticket,” he said back in 2012.

According to Forbes, Belarus-born Melnichenko owns majority stakes in fertilizer producer Eurochem and coal energy company SUEK.

Melnichenko’s first business venture was a chain of currency-exchange booths he started in the 1990’s after organizing with friends from school a private trading company. He then invested his money into the fertilizer and coal industries.

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Secretive Cyprus-Registered Funds Were Used to Hide Megayachts and Luxury Real Estate Linked to Sanctioned Russian Banker

In Cyprus, a new type of investment fund was marketed to clients as a way to avoid disclosing their ownership of assets. In one case, these funds were used to obscure the ownership of offshore companies that allegedly held luxury assets linked to powerful Russian banker Andrei Kostin, including two megayachts worth tens of millions.  

KEY POINTS: 

• Two megayachts linked to Andrei Kostin were hidden behind secretive investment funds in Cyprus, known as “registered alternative investment funds.” 
• The funds were managed by a company called Inveqo, owned by the wife of a sanctioned Cypriot lawyer. 
• Registered alternative investment funds, or RAIFs, were marketed by the lawyer’s firm as a way for clients to avoid revealing their ownership after an EU crackdown on corporate secrecy. 
• Ownership of three Kostin-linked properties in Moscow and a neighboring region were also obscured behind investment funds managed by Inveqo. 

Two companies that Russian state banker Andrei Kostin allegedly used to control a pair of megayachts were transferred to secretive Cyprus investment funds on the eve of the Ukraine invasion, making it impossible to see who owned them, financial records show.

The funds were managed by a company called Inveqo Fund Management Ltd. At the time, Inveqo was owned by the wife of a Cypriot lawyer, Christodoulos Vassiliades, who was sanctioned by the U.S. last year for acting as a “prolific enabler” of Russian oligarchs.

Inveqo marketed the special type of funds used to own the megayachts — known as “registered alternative investment funds,” or RAIFs — as a way to help clients avoid revealing ownership information after the European Union tried to crack down on corporate secrecy, according to marketing materials found amid leaked emails obtained by OCCRP. 

One user appears to be Kostin, the longtime head of Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. and European Union for his close ties to the regime of Vladimir Putin. Anti-corruption activist and opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison camp this year, first linked Kostin to a 62-meter megayacht, the Sea & Us, in 2019 . In February this year, a U.S. indictment of Kostin for sanctions evasion alleged that the banker also owned another megayacht, the 66-meter Sea Rhapsody, and that the vessels were held through two offshore companies, one based in the Marshall Islands and another in Belize.

The U.S. indictment claimed that Kostin “owned and controlled” these two offshore companies through “a series of additional shell companies, nominee owners, and trust and investment fund structures” which were used “to obscure his true beneficial ownership of the Sea Rhapsody and the Sea & Us.” (Kostin did not respond to a request for comment sent through VTB bank.) 

The indictment did not name these structures, but an OCCRP investigation has found that in  October 2021, as tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine were rising, ownership of the two offshore companies that held the yachts was transferred to two RAIFs managed by Inveqo, according to the Cypriot corporate register and financial records. (The funds have since been dissolved, and the current ownership of the yachts is unknown.).

The Cypriot government had only introduced RAIFs in July 2018, just two months after a European Union anti-money laundering directive required member states to create publicly accessible registries of “ultimate beneficial owners,” or UBOs, of companies.

RAIFs received a particularly light regulatory touch. Unlike most funds, RAIFs only need to be registered — not licensed — by the Cyprus securities regulator, and they are available only to institutional and other professional investors.

The use of RAIFs to obscure even highly sought-after assets like the megayachts highlights how hard it is to enforce sanctions effectively, said Stephan Blancke, an associate fellow at the Royal United Service Institute, a U.K.-based think tank. 

“This raises the question: How many other beneficiaries of these Cypriot alternative investment funds exist that we do not know about?” he asked.  

The lawyer whose firm marketed the funds, Vassiliades, said that he and his law firm had always acted in “strict compliance” with Cypriot and European Union sanctions and anti-money laundering and anti-corruption rules and regulations. 

He said that he had never been informed that Kostin or “any other sanctioned person” was an investor or beneficial owner in the RAIFs and yachts identified by OCCRP. “I was not informed or had any knowledge of this fact. No one ever disclosed such facts to me,” he said. 

Vassiliades himself was sanctioned last year along with other “entities and individuals in his network” the U.S. said had acted as “prolific enablers of a number of Russian oligarchs.” (The sanctions announcement did not mention which oligarchs he was accused of working with, nor did it name Kostin.)

  Marketing RAIFs to Hide Ownership

Inveqo was set up in late 2018 and licensed as an “alternative investment fund manager.” It was acquired in May 2021 by a company owned by Vassiliades’ wife, Eleni Vasiliadou, who also worked as an office manager at her husband’s law firm, Christodoulos Vassiliades & Co LLC. 

Although Inveqo was nominally owned by Eleni, a leaked email obtained by OCCRP showed that Vassiliades’ law firm circulated its marketing materials, and even referred to Inveqo as “our own affiliated company.”

Although Vasiliadou did not respond to a request for comment, Vassiliades told OCCRP that she had owned Inveqo from June 2021 to May 2023 “as an investment” and that she had not been involved in the company’s day-to-day operations. 

He added that the email had been sent as part of a bulk newsletter to “many clients” of his law firm and was “not meant to promote or market Inveqo.” He said the term “affiliate” had been used to refer to “a firm in my law firm’s referral network and to which my law firm acted as a legal advisor.” 

“Neither me nor my law firm ever controlled INVEQO in any way, or had any ownership interest, or engaged or participated in INVEQO’s business activities or day-to-day operations,” he wrote. 

The marketing materials in the leaked emails show that RAIFs were presented to prospective clients as a way of avoiding having their ownership of assets revealed by the new EU transparency law, which the law firm referred to as “optimization of the UBO disclosure requirements.”

The materials laid out how the actual investor in an RAIF would not appear when Cyprus published its register of company owners, but would instead remain hidden behind the name of an external fund manager. 

In one information sheet distributed by the law firm, prospective clients were assured that “access to investors [sic] information is only available to the Fund Manager and to the Depositary.”

Vassiliades denied that the RAIFs were marketed as a way of avoiding ownership disclosure. 

“Neither I or my law firm ever promoted or enabled any sanctions evasion or promoted any non-declaring of owners of assets. Any such practice is entirely against my professional ethics,” he said. 

In another leaked email introducing Inveqo to prospective clients, a Cypriot company called InterTaxAudit — which Vassiliades’ law firm calls its “affiliated partners ” — referenced the disclosure requirements under the new EU directive. 

“The Fund structure can be a solution to this problem,” the email continued, “since it does not require a UBO, the investors are holding units of the Fund, they don’t ‘own’ the assets therefore their names are not disclosed anywhere.”

In other words, clients could continue to control assets through these funds, but with their ownership hidden.

Moving Yachts Into RAIFS

The U.S. indictment alleged that Kostin owned his megayachts through companies registered in the Marshall Islands and Belize. In October 2021, both of those offshore companies were transferred into Inveqo-managed RAIFs: Ostreus RAIF VCIC and Lorenor RAIF V.C.I.C. Limited, respectively,  financial statements show.  

Kostin was sanctioned by the European Union in February 2022, a day before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Cyprus made its register of beneficial owners publicly available that summer to adhere to the EU anti-money laundering directive. But thanks to the RAIFs, the yachts could not be found. Furthermore, because Vassiliades’ wife — not Vassiliades himself — owned Inveqo, the company was not affected when the U.S. and U.K. sanctioned Vassiliades in April 2023 . 

In 2022, when OCCRP published the Russian Asset Tracker project, the Sea Rhapsody and the Sea & Us were included on a list of “most wanted” assets — ones we had strong reason to believe were linked to a sanctioned figure with ties to the regime of Vladimir Putin, but whose ownership we could not prove. Since then, more information about the yachts has become publicly available: The U.S. indicted Kostin in February this year for sanctions evasion and money laundering, and named the two yachts as assets he had sought to hide . The indictment also named the Belize and Marshall Islands companies that owned the yachts, and provided detail on their luxurious fittings, including an infinity pool, a jacuzzi, and customized stationary on the Sea Rhapsody.

The Belize company, Solston Shipping Limited, is still listed as the owner of the Sea Rhapsody on its current shipping certificate issued by the International Maritime Organization, a U.N. body responsible for regulating maritime transport. However, The Sea & Us changed its name to the Serenity and Unity, and it is now owned by a company called Comhold Limited, based in an unknown jurisdiction. The Marshall Islands company that previously owned it, Pasithea Shipping Ltd., has been dissolved. Both yachts were flagged as Marshall Islands vessels until 2022, when they began flying the Malaysian flag. They are currently docked in the Aegean Sea, off the coast of Turkey.

The two megayachts were not the only Kostin-linked luxury assets whose ownership was obscured behind Inveqo RAIFs. In November 2021, the same RAIFs also took over three Cyprus firms linked to Kostin’s property holdings by previous OCCRP and Navalny investigations: Angerston Holdings Ltd, Castelor Investments Ltd, and Eralmor Holdings Ltd. 

Angerston owned a luxurious three-story townhouse in Moscow, while Eralmor owned a luxury apartment in Moscow. Castelor held a share in a countryside resort in the Tver region northwest of Moscow for which it paid $58 million.

Though the indictment does not name them, it identifies the two co-owners of a Cyprus firm, Gesford Holdings, as “co-conspirators” in helping Kostin evade sanctions — including by concealing the ownership of his two superyachts.

The indictment alleges that these “co-conspirators” owned Gesford via two shell firms, Aktien Enterprises Limited and Ionics Nominees Limited. (The indictment misspells Aktien as “Atkien” and Ionics as “Ionic.”)

During the brief window when Cyprus’ beneficial owner registry was open, OCCRP identified the owner of Aktien as Eric Whyte, the son of a Canadian communist who moved to Moscow in the 1960s when Whyte was a boy.

Properties linked to Kostin but held by Whyte included a luxury villa near the French coastal town of St. Tropez, a Paris property on the banks of the Seine, a luxury hotel in the Austrian Alps, and a winery in Ukraine’s occupied Crimean peninsula.

The U.S. indictment alleges that one of the alleged “co-conspirators,” who matches the description of Whyte, “served as a nominal owner for several of Kostin’s assets, and … created, owned, and controlled a business in Cyprus that managed several of Kostin’s companies and assets.”

The other owner of Gesford was Natalia Solozhentseva, a former vice president of Kostin’s VTB Bank and board member of its Cypriot subsidiary. Solozhentseva was the beneficial owner of a Cyprus firm that bought stakes in the Russian franchise of fast food outlet KFC, as well as Russia’s leading discount retailer, Fix Price.

Her profile matches that of alleged “co-conspirator 2” in the U.S. indictment, which claims that she “was an employee of VTB Bank and opened an office in Cyprus specifically to assist with the management of many of Kostin’s shell companies and assets.”

The indictment accuses co-conspirators 1 and 2 of working together to manage Kostin’s superyachts, through a yacht management company based in Switzerland and a Cyprus-based company.

Neither Whyte nor Solozhentseva responded to a request for comment.

Since RAIFs were first introduced, the Cyprus company registry has clarified that the ultimate investors in the funds must be declared, not just the fund managers, but it is difficult to know the extent to which this is being enforced. In November 2022, the European Union’s Court of Justice ruling struck down the requirement for member states to publish beneficial ownership information on privacy grounds, and the Cyprus registry closed to public access six days later. 

In July 2023, both of the Inveqo-managed funds used to hold the Kostin assets were dissolved, for reasons that remain unclear. Inveqo changed ownership in May 2023 and was itself dissolved earlier this year.”

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From mega yachts to multimillion-dollar villas, the city of Limassol is known as a Mediterranean playground for Russian oligarchs

• Limassol, Cyprus, has earned the nickname "Limassolgrad" for its large Russian population.
• Cyprus' ties to the EU and its formerly lax citizenship requirements enticed many to move there.  
• Today, you'll find mega yachts in Limassol's marina, and Russian billboards and fur shops in the city.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Cyprus sits at a crossroads, between southern Europe and the Middle East.

Today, Cyprus lures European vacationers with its golden beaches, Mediterranean cuisine, and rich culture.

But it hasn't always been as idyllic. Cyprus has passed through many hands — and its history has been riddled with conflict.

After more than three centuries of Ottoman rule, Cyprus was annexed by the British in 1914 and became a British colony by 1925, according to the BBC's timeline of the nation's history . Five years after Greek Cypriots began a guerilla war against the British in 1955, the BBC notes, the nation became independent as its Greek and Turkish occupants agreed upon a constitution.

However, decades of tensions between the nation's Greek and Turkish-Cypriot communities culminated in war by 1974, with Turkish forces invading the north of the island and occupying a third of the country. As a result, the nation was split in two, with the north — or the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus as it's recognized by Turkey — under Turkish-Cypriot rule, and the south — recognized internationally as Cyprus — under Greek-Cypriot rule.

While there have been talks of possible reunification over the years, the island remains divided today, and a "no man's land" enforced by the United Nations acts as a buffer zone between the north and south. Restrictions along the border eased in 2003, and a year later Cyprus joined the EU.

The country is predominately home to a Greek-Cypriot community, but it's also known for its large Russian population — the majority of which live in the city of Limassol.

Estimates vary for the exact population of Russian residents in Cyprus. The country's 2011 census had more than 10,000 Russian-born residents, according to the Financial Times . And today, outlets like The Guardian report that over 40,000 Russians live in Cyprus.

While the Russian population in Cyprus sounds small — there are approximately 1.2 million people living in Cyprus, according to figures from the World Population Review — the Russian influence in the nation has extended past numbers. In 2017, Russian oligarchs in the country created their own Russian political party, Euractiv reported. And throughout the country, it's not hard to find Russian speakers, billboards, shops, and restaurants.

But, according to The Guardian , the majority of Cyprus' Russian population is located in the port city of Limassol, on the country's southern coast.

Cyprus' second-most populated city, Limassol, has earned the nickname "Limassolgrad" for its high concentration of Russian residents.

The sunny city is known for its castle, Limassol Castle, where the conqueror of Cyprus, King Richard the Lionheart , got married, according to Cyprus Land . Limassol is also home to a large public park with a zoo and amphitheater and an array of museums.  

But these attractions aren't the only draw for many of the country's rich Russian residents.

In the 1990s, powerful and rich leaders arrived in Cyprus with suitcases reportedly filled with cash.

After the end of the Soviet Union, powerful leaders like Serbian President Slobodan Milošević arrived in Cyprus with cash in hand, according to a 2018 Wall Street Journal article . 

Banks opened, condos were built, and many wealthy Russian individuals arrived for both tourism and residence, the Wall Street Journal reported.

By 2010, Cyprus banks had a disproportionate amount of money thanks to its new residents — deposits exceeded the country's annual economic output five times, according to the Wall Street Journal.

But in 2013, Cyprus' economy experienced a near collapse during Europe's financial crisis. The island was close to bankruptcy and sought an emergency 10 billion euro, or $11 billion, loan from the EU, according to Reuters .

The measures hit large depositors — many Russian individuals and companies — hard, according to the Financial Times . But it didn't stop many Russian residents from staying in Cyprus. 

While the salty ocean breeze and hot sun are enticing, what appeals to many wealthy individuals are the country's favorable tax laws (and formerly, its lax citizenship requirements).

Following its near financial collapse, Cyprus revamped its citizen-by-investment program, which was originally launched in 2007, according to Al Jazeera and France24 . At the time, anyone willing to pay at least 2 million euros, or around $2.2 million, on property could earn Cyprus citizenship. Essentially, the scheme allowed the rich to buy an EU passport. 

Out of 2,544 people who received a passport through the program between 2017 and 2019, almost half were Russian, according to a 2020 Al Jazeera investigation . And they included at least nine oligarchs, who each are worth more than $1 billion, according to Al Jazeera . As of 2020, Cyprus has received $8 billion from the program — with much of that coming from new Russian residents, according to Al Jazeera. 

The program has since been scrapped, but it's not just relaxed citizenship requirements that have lured wealthy individuals to the nation; Cyprus also has appealing tax laws.

In a 2017 survey of Russian business owners in Cyprus , the overwhelming majority said the "single biggest advantage of Cyprus as a business destination" was the country's tax regime. This tax regime includes elements like an exemption on disposal of securities, no inheritance tax, and no capital gains tax, according to the survey by the Cyprus-Russian Business Association. 

Cyprus became a haven for Russian investors, and accusations of money laundering followed, prompting the country to ax its controversial citizen-by-investment program in 2020.

Thanks to EU citizenship, some wealthy Russian individuals who reside in Cyprus have an easier way to get black money into the European Union, according to Al Jazeera . 

"Criminals are endangering Europe's security or want to engage in money-laundering here," Vera Jourova, a vice president of the European Commission in 2018, told Al Jazeera . "We do not want Trojan horses in the Union."

In response to pressure from the EU, Cyprus tightened the rules of its citizen-by-investment program in 2019 and 2020, according to Al Jazeera. Applicants who had previously been rejected for citizenship in other EU nations were banned from applying along with applicants facing criminal investigation, those who had received a prison sentence for serious offenses such as bribery or tax evasion, and politically exposed persons, according to Al Jazeera .

But in October 2020, Cyprus abandoned the program following accusations that criminals used it to launder money, Reuters reported.

Walk around Limassol, and you'll see the Russian community's influence all over the city.

Elements of Russian influence can be spotted across the streets of Limassol.

According to The Guardian , in parts of Limassol, Russian is heard just as often as Greek. 

Billboards advertise apartment complexes in both Greek and Russian, and some restaurants serve Russian beer and cuisine. 

Shiny, new luxury apartment buildings and five-star hotels dot Limassol's horizon.

Before Cyprus scrapped its popular citizen-by-investment program, a number of apartment buildings and villas were built in Limassol in the 2010s to house potential new residents as part of the city's "property development boom fuelled by Russian money," according to a 2018 Guardian article .

These expensive properties helped Cyrpus generate over 8 billion euros, or $8.8 million — much from its new Russian residents, according to Al Jazeera .

As a result, luxury apartment complexes quickly filled the skyline. 

There are also Russian schools, newspaper stands selling Russian-language newspapers, and boutiques filled with mink coats.

According to a 2013 Reuters article , Limassol's business district caters to its Russian residents. Beyond typical jewelry stores, there are luxury fur stores — selling coats that aren't often needed for much of the year in the Mediterranean sun. As of 2013, there are also three Russian-language schools, and radio stations that share news and updates in Russian, according to Reuters. 

Between the restaurants and shops are law firms and businesses that help Russians learn how to gain citizenship, do business, and stow their wealth on the island, according to the Financial Times .

One of the biggest signs of wealth in Limassol can be found in the city's marina, where mega yachts line the docks.

Opened in 2014 by President Nicos Anastasiades, Limassol's 24 million euro (around $26.5 million) marina is filled with multimillion-dollar yachts, according to The Guardian .

And while the ships boast luxe furnishings, many of the boats' owners are unnamed. Instead, they're owned by private holdings held under company names, The Guardian reported. 

"Our aim is to become the Monte Carlo of the eastern Mediterranean," Nikiforos Pampakas, the marina's marketing manager, told The Guardian in 2018. "Right now, I think we are the Cannes of this part of the world. Most of our clients are Russian-speaking."

Limassol is also home to rows of luxury villas — many of which are owned by rich Russian residents.

Do a quick search of real estate in Limassol, and you'll find villas selling for millions of dollars. 

One ultra-modern, six-bedroom villa in Limassol is listed for 4.3 million euros, or about $4.7 million, on Prime Property Group; another villa costs 13.5 million euros , or about $14.8 million, with private beach access on Century 21 Global. 

According to The Guardian , many of the purchased villas and homes sit empty since their owners prefer to reside in other places.

For 15 years, thousands gathered in downtown Limassol for the city's annual Cypriot-Russian Festival.

In 2019, the festival hosted its fifteenth year of celebrations, according to the festival's website , but the scheduled 2020 festival was put on hold due to COVID-19. At the time of writing, according to the festival's Facebook page , there aren't any plans for when the festival will restart.

Before it was put on pause, the two-day event had a fairy-tale parade, concerts from Cypriot and Russian children's groups, folk dance performances, and regional cuisine, according to the festival's website . In total, the event involved three concert stages, over 1,200 singers and dancers, and more than 12,000 visitors, according to the festival's website.

Even during COVID-19 lockdowns, Russians still flocked to Cyprus.

According to the Al-Monitor , Russian travelers are the country's second-largest tourist population behind the Brits.  

Before COVID-19 in 2019, 782,000 out of Cyprus' 3.9 million tourists were Russian, the Al-Monitor reported. 

While those numbers decreased during the 2020 and 2021 tourist seasons, Russian visitors still made up a significant portion of the country's tourists. 

"The Russian market really is a major benefit to Cyprus, as the latest data shows that between June-August there were 320,000-340,000 Russian tourists this summer," Lakis Avraamides of the Famagusta Tourism Board told the Cyprus Mail in October 2021 . 

Since Russia started a war against Ukraine, Cyprus has distanced itself from its former ally.

The war put Cyprus in a precarious situation. The country is part of the EU; meanwhile, a large portion of the country's revenue comes from Russia. And without Russian tourists, the country's economy could be damaged, The Guardian reported.

Initially, Cyprus resisted to sever ties with Russia. It avoided closing its airways to Russian planes and continued to allow Russian access to SWIFT until February 26, a global payments gateway, according to The Guardian.

But as violence escalated in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Cyprus shifted gears. It is now offering humanitarian support to Ukraine, has banned Russian naval ships from refueling in Cypriot ports, and, today, more than 3,000 Ukrainian refugees are temporarily living in Cyprus, The Guardian reported. 

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The six Russian oligarchs mentioned in ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential report

13:12 - 15 November 2023

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ (ICIJ) Cyprus Confidential report implicates six Russian oligarchs which it says were helped to avoid the sanctions that were imposed on Russia following its invasion of UK.

They are Roman Abramovich, known among other for being the former owner of Chelsea football club, as well as Petr Aven, Alexey Mordashov, Rinat Akhmetov, Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov.

Below is a description the ICIJ provided of the oligarchs and the replies they offered as part of its investigation.

Roman Abramovich

Billionaire Roman Abramovich is one of the most high-profile Russian oligarchs. He owns stakes in Russian steel giant Evraz PLC, which is led by fellow oligarchs Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, and nickel producer Norilsk Nickel. Abramovich received a windfall of $13 billion, according to Forbes, in 2005 when Vladimir Putin’s government reacquired Abramovich’s stake in Sibneft, a large oil company.

Abromovich has long downplayed his relationship to Putin, but the EU considers him to have “privileged access” to the Russian president and said their connection helped Abramovich to “maintain his considerable wealth,” when leveling sanctions against him in March 2022, the ICIJ said.

He was later forced to sell the Chelsea Football Club while the United States seized two of his planes but did not sanction him.

Abramovich holds Russian, Israeli and Portuguese citizenship and owns numerous luxury yachts, planes and properties in the US, the UK, the EU and offshore.

A 2023 investigation by ICIJ partners, based on leaked files from Cyprus-based financial services firm MeritServus, revealed the scale of Abramovich’s nearly $1 billion art collection, which includes works by Russian, European and American masters and celebrated British contemporary artists and others.

ICIJ previously showed how an apartment Putin reportedly bought for his high school teacher in Tel Aviv, Israel, was paid for through a Cyprus-based shell company controlled by Abramovich, according to financial records.

Number of companies and trusts in the leak

ICIJ’s analysis found that MeritServus helped administer at least 14 Cyprus-registered trusts owned or controlled by Abramovich.

MeritServus and another firm, Cypcodirect, also provided services to 246 of Abramovich’s companies registered in secrecy jurisdictions including the Isle of Man, Jersey, and the British Virgin Islands.

Cyprus connections

The Cyprus Confidential report highlights Abramovich’s decades-long relationship with Cypriot financial service providers, which played a key role in helping him manage his assets offshore and to move billions into European economies.

Leaked documents connect Abramovich to 261 companies and trusts in Cyprus, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Jersey and other secrecy jurisdictions.

MeritServus, which administered many of the companies, was sanctioned by the UK in April 2023 after its work with the oligarch and others was widely reported, including by ICIJ. Another provider in the leak, Cypcodirect, named him a high-risk client

The leak reveals additional details about the transfer of Evraz shares. On Feb. 15, 2022, just nine days before Russia invaded Ukraine, more than $1.7 billion worth of shares from Evraz were transferred from Abramovich’s BVI-based company Greenleas International Holdings Ltd. to himself.

In the same week, Abramovich sold shares in Yandex N.V., a Russian tech company registered in the Netherlands, worth more than $61 million from Greenleas International Holdings Ltd. to Matteson Overseas Ltd., a company owned by Valeriy Oyf, Abramovich's close business associate.

The leaked documents show a separate sale of Yandex shares worth more than $180 million took place between another of Abramovich’s companies, Ervington Investments Ltd., and Matteson Overseas around the same time.

What Abramovich had to say

Abramovich did not respond to ICIJ’s request for comment. Evraz referred ICIJ to regulatory news published on its website.

Petr Aven is an economist, banker and art collector from an academic family, who is a key shareholder of Alfa Group, a Russian private-sector financial services giant. He also served as the president of Alfa Bank, the group’s flagship company and Russia’s largest private bank, from 1994 to 2011. A few days after he was sanctioned by the European Union, it labelled him “one of [President Vladimir] Putin’s closest oligarchs”.

He was also sanctioned by the United Kingdom, the United States and other jurisdictions following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but has repeatedly denied wielding influence in Russian politics.

Aven is one of Russia’s wealthiest people, worth an estimated $4.2 billion, and is considered one of the most influential businesspeople in the country.

Aven controlled 17 companies and trusts in secrecy jurisdictions. One of his companies was administered by Cypcodirect, while several Alfa and LetterOne companies appear in the i-Cyprus data. PwC provided services to 10 companies he owned or controlled; nine of those also received services from Abacus.

Aven is a longtime client of Cyprus’ financial services industry, which he uses to manage his private and family wealth as well as his holdings in Alfa Group and other business interests, according to leaked files, public records and court documents.

Previously unpublished court records and leaked files from Cypriot corporate services providers show that much of Aven’s wealth is held by Cyprus-based trusts, primarily administered through a low-profile firm called Abacus Ltd, which handled his most sensitive transactions.

Abacus, for its part, denied any wrongdoing and said it stopped providing services to sanctioned clients as soon as they were targeted, including Aven. An Abacus representative also said it reported all of Aven’s holdings to the regulator and co-operated in freezing his assets.

Aven’s response

Aven has denied wrongdoing through his lawyers’ court filings, and he declined to comment to ICIJ for its coverage of the freezing orders and his Cypriot affairs. Neither he nor his wife, Ekaterina Kozina, nor aide Stephen Gater — all of whom feature in the NCA’s civil lawsuit — have been charged with a crime. The NCA also does not allege Aven committed any crime.

Alexey Mordashov

Alexey Mordashov is a steel tycoon and one of Russia’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of nearly $21 billion, according to Forbes magazine. He is the founder and general director of Severgroup LLC, a Cherepovets-based conglomerate that holds shares in steel mining giant, Severstal, as well as companies across a range of sectors, including forestry and tourism.

Previous ICIJ investigations revealed how Mordashov used shell companies to invest in Bank Rossiya, which European Union authorities consider “the personal bank” of Russian senior officials, and to carry out multimillion-dollar deals with entities belonging to Sergey Roldugin, a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the U.S., the EU and other governments sanctioned Mordashov, members of his family — including Marina Mordashova, whom the EU has identified as his wife — and some of his companies.

64 offshore companies tied to Alexey Mordashov appear in the leaked data. Out of those, there are 46 Cypriot companies (some of which are subsidiaries of conglomerates in which Mordashov has controlling stakes), and 18 registered in the British Virgin Islands and the Isle of Man. Cypcodirect provided services to 41 Cypriot companies, almost always in tandem with PwC.

According to leaked data analysed as part of ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential investigation, Mordashov is the beneficial owner or shareholder of 64 shell companies, 46 incorporated in Cyprus, as well as 18 in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Isle of Man. Many of these entities are subsidiaries of Unifirm Ltd., his Cyprus-based holding company. Nearly all were administered by PwC Cyprus and Cypcodirect, a local financial services provider.

On 28 February 2022, minutes before EU authorities announced sanctions against Mordashov, officers at Cypcodirect approved the transfer of shares from two of his companies to a BVI entity named Ondero Ltd.

The Cyprus Confidential investigation also reveals that, in 2018 and 2019, shell companies linked to Mordashov were used to pay about $700,000 to a renowned German journalist to write a book about Russian politics.

Mordashov’s response

Through a spokesperson, Mordashov told ICIJ that “not once in his long career did [he], or any of the companies he runs, breach any laws, whether in Europe, Russia, or any other jurisdictions,” and that “[e]verything he has built and achieved was accomplished through fair business practices and strict compliance with regulations,” including the TUI share transfer.

A spokesperson for TUI told Paper Trail Media that Mordashov’s share transfer to his partner Mordashova was not valid and that, due to sanctions, “his shareholding has been significantly reduced.”

A Cypcodirect spokesperson declined to comment on the firm’s clients citing confidentiality reasons, and added that the firm “has always been working in line with Applicable Laws and Regulations.”

PwC did not comment on its work for Mordashov citing confidentiality issues. In a statement to ICIJ the firm said that “[a]ll PwC firms, including PwC Cyprus, take the application of sanctions against clients and sanctions prohibiting various professional services extremely seriously” and that “following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, PwC Cyprus has terminated relationships with approximately 150 client groups.”

Rinat Akhmetov

Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, the son of a coal miner, rose from modest roots in Donetsk to become Ukraine's wealthiest person, now worth an estimated $5.7 billion, according to Forbes. He amassed his fortune by buying mining assets during Ukraine's privatisation era in the 1990s.

Akhmetov's net worth dropped from an estimated $14 billion before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine to less than $6 billion a year later, according to Forbes. He then filed a lawsuit against Russia with the European Court of Human Rights for damages caused. Despite his financial losses, Akhmetov is reportedly awaiting delivery of a $500 million luxury yacht.

Sixty companies appear in our data, most of them registered in Cyprus. Out of those, 58 were also common clients of Cypcodirect and PwC.

The Cyprus Confidential leak reveals the scale of Akhmetov's global business holdings, including direct or indirect interests in 60 offshore companies, primarily registered in Cyprus. Most of the companies within Akhmetov's network are connected to System Capital Management Ltd. (SCM), a corporate conglomerate through which Akhmetov wields significant influence over vital sectors of the Ukrainian economy.

Akhmetov response

In a statement to ICIJ, Akhmetov said SCM Holdings Ltd., the main investment company of the SCM group, is the only Cypriot firm in which he is a “direct shareholder” and that SCM is comprised of 500 legal entities in multiple jurisdictions. The holding company for DTEK is incorporated in the Netherlands, the statement noted.

After the invasion, the statement said, "the situation changed drastically" and DTEK sought to sell the Rostov coal mines. After failing to find a buyer, ownership of the mines was transferred to Fabcell as a way of "limiting [DTEK's] exposure to the claims of Sberbank as creditor and paved the way to exiting DTEK’s investment in the Rostov Coal Mines."

Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov

Russian billionaires Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov are fellow graduates of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. They pursued separate scientific careers before serving together as the long-time leaders of Evraz PLC, a steelmaker and mining giant that produces 97% of the railway metal in Russia.

In May 2022, the UK government sanctioned Evraz while the following November, it imposed an asset freeze and travel ban on Abramov and Frolov, citing their close business ties to another Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich. UK authorities described the pair as part of the “cabal of selected elite” that Russian President Vladimir Putin relies on to fund the military machine behind his “illegal invasion” of Ukraine.

According to ICIJ, Abramov and Frolov used the international accounting giant PwC to move hundreds of millions of dollars in assets through Cyprus after the Russian war in Ukraine began. The oligarchs built and have maintained a network of investments spanning at least three continents. Forbes estimates Abramov’s net worth at $6 billion and Frolov’s net worth at $2.6 billion.

Seventy-eight companies and trusts owned or controlled by Abramov or Frolov appear in the leaked data, including 69 Cypriot companies and trusts. Cypcodirect provided services to 27 of these companies and MeritServus, to two companies.

Records leaked to ICIJ show that PwC Cyprus provided services to 55 Cypriot companies and five Cypriot trusts controlled or owned by Abramov and Frolov, as well as two British Virgin Islands-based companies. These companies held an array of investments, including in an “ultra-luxury” resort development on the Greek island of Mykonos; a hotel in the Brazilian mountains; and office buildings in the UK.

Abramov and Frolov’s response

Abramov and Frolov did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for comment. Citing the need to maintain confidentiality, PwC declined to comment on its business with Abramov, Frolov and other clients. It added that it complied with EU and United Nations sanctions before Russia’s February 2022 invasion and has since severed ties with 60 clients as a result of the company’s new “Russia-related sanctions policy.”

The firm said its Cyprus office had “pivoted to a new economic model fit for the future, transforming its business” and pointed to the office’s annual report for 2022. PwC Cyprus's fiscal 2023 annual report, released in September, cited a "significant contraction" in business related to implementing the global sanctions policy.

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Here are the superyachts seized from Russian oligarchs

As part of an international pressure campaign on Russia, authorities from around the world have seized more than a half-dozen superyachts belonging to billionaire oligarchs allied with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The yacht seizures since the Feb. 24 invasion are "just the beginning," White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters in March, as an international task force worked to identify further assets that can be seized or frozen.

“The Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable those who facilitate the death and destruction we are witnessing in Ukraine,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said of the ongoing efforts in May.

Here are the superyachts government officials have seized since Russia invaded Ukraine last month.

The Justice Department announced May 5 that the Fijian government had seized billionaire oligarch Suleiman Kerimov 's 348-foot yacht Amadea. The vessel, which is valued at more than $300 million , arrived in Fiji last month. Kerimov, who's worth an estimated $14 billion and has ties to the Russian government, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department over alleged money laundering in 2018.

Special features on the sprawling yacht include a helipad, infinity pool, a jacuzzi and multiple bars, according to a report in Boat International . It can accommodate 16 overnight guests in addition to 36 crew members, the report said.

In April, Spanish law-enforcement officials seized a 255-foot yacht called the Tango, which Justice Department says is owned by oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg is an aluminum magnate who the Treasury Department says has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Tango is worth an estimated $90 million, prosecutors said , and Vekselberg allegedly purchased it through shell companies. The 11-year-old yacht has seven staterooms and reportedly includes amenities such as a pool, gym and beauty salon .

Authorities in Italy seized a 215-foot superyacht called the Lady M this month. It's owned by Alexei Mordashov, Russia's richest businessman, and it’s estimated to be worth $27 million . The vessel, which requires a crew of 14, has six guest cabins , a pool and a gym.

But it pales in comparison to another of Mordashov's yachts, the $500 million Nord . The 464-foot vessel, which has two helipads and a waterfall and can accommodate 36 guests, was anchored this month in the Seychelles, where the U.S. and European Union sanctions don’t apply.

Italian officials also seized the 132-foot superyacht Lena, owned by the energy magnate Gennady Timchenko. Estimated to be worth $8 million, it has five cabins and can accommodate 10 guests.

SY A — short for Sailing Yacht A — is one of the world's largest superyachts. Valued at over $440 million, the 469-foot vessel, owned by the fertilizer magnate Andrey Melnichenko, has eight decks, multiple elevators, an underwater observation area and the world's tallest masts . It was seized in the Italian port of Trieste.

Authorities in Spain seized Sergei Chemezov's Valerie, a 279-foot superyacht that had been moored in Barcelona. Chemezov , a former KGB officer, heads the state conglomerate Rostec. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez touted the seizure on La Sexta television. “We are talking about a yacht that we estimate is worth $140 million,” Sanchez said.

Officials in France announced this month that they had seized the 289-foot Amore Vero, which was undergoing repairs in a shipyard near Marseille. When they arrived, authorities said, they found the crew preparing for an urgent departure, even though the repair work was scheduled to last through April. The $120 million boat, which has seven cabins , is linked to Igor Sechin, described by the U.S. Treasury Department as a close ally of Putin's.

Dareh Gregorian is a politics reporter for NBC News.