Court in Jersey Island freezes $7B worth of assets linked to Abramovich

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - The Royal Court of Jersey on Wednesday ruled to formally freeze $7 billion worth of assets linked to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

The island’s Law Officers’ Department added that police have searched properties linked to Abramovich.

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands located between the UK and France. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependency.

The statement from the Law Officers’ Department said: “The Royal Court also imposed a formal freezing order on 12 April, known as a saisie judiciaire, over assets understood to be valued in excess of US$7 billion which are suspected to be connected to Mr Abramovich and which are either located in Jersey or owned by Jersey incorporated entities.”

Abramovich was added to UK and EU sanctions lists last month along with other oligarchs.

The Russian billionaire attempted to sell Chelsea FC but the British government took the process out of his hands after it sanctioned him.