Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's $7 billion fight won't bankrupt Jersey, government says

The Government of Jersey has dismissed claims that Russian-Israeli billionaire Roman Abramovich could bankrupt the British Crown dependency through his legal fight over £5.3 billion ($7 billion) of assets seized on the island, calling them "false and misleading."

In a statement on Nov. 6, the government said there is no "realistic prospect" that any award a court might eventually make could threaten Jersey's financial stability. It said it "continues to defend these proceedings robustly" and rejected all of Abramovich's allegations of bad faith.

The statement came after suggestions this week that the scale of the frozen assets left the island of about 100,000 people exposed if Abramovich won. Tom Keating of the Centre for Finance and Scrutiny, a research group, has warned that when a state and an oligarch fight over money, the oligarch often comes out ahead.

Two cases

Abramovich is involved in two separate legal matters in Jersey. The first is a criminal investigation run by the island's attorney general and its Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit, which began in April 2022 and looks at possible sanctions breaches and money laundering. No charges have been brought, and Abramovich denies any wrongdoing. His lawyers have said the investigation was "undertaken for political purposes."

The second is a civil claim Abramovich brought against the government in 2024 to recover the money. He accuses officials of conspiracy and misfeasance in public office and has also relied on Jersey's data protection law. The government calls the claims baseless. Details of the civil case became public in November 2025, after a court lifted reporting restrictions.

The government stressed that the attorney general is an independent office holder appointed by the Crown, and that ministers have no authority or influence over that office or its investigation.

In April, Abramovich also took a human rights complaint over the criminal proceedings to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

From resident to target

Abramovich was granted residency in Jersey in 2017. The island's authorities froze assets connected to him in 2022, weeks after Britain sanctioned him following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Jersey probe has also held up a separate dispute in London. Abramovich's team has cited the investigation as one of the obstacles to releasing the £2.35 billion ($3.1 billion) he received from the forced sale of Chelsea Football Club, money that sits in a frozen British bank account while the government and Abramovich argue over where it should go.

Abramovich, 59, made his fortune in Russian oil and aluminium in the 1990s and 2000s and owned Chelsea from 2003 until 2022. He holds Israeli and Portuguese citizenship. Forbes puts his net worth at $9.3 billion.

Figures were converted at $1.33 to the pound.