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The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that Deloitte Cyprus and Meritservus falsified at least 1,000 corporate papers over more than a decade for the sanctioned Russian oligarch, using fake timestamps to rewrite historical records before the firm signed off accounts as independent auditor. The scheme allowed concealment of at least $10 billion in assets while dodging substantial tax payments in Cyprus, according to forensic analysis of leaked documents from the Cyprus Confidential project shared by the Distributed Denial of Secrets. A joint probe with BBC Panorama, the Guardian and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project detailed how the operation involved Abramovich’s inner circle including Eugene Tenenbaum, who managed much of the empire through Millhouse Capital UK.
Accounts signed off by Deloitte in Cyprus made assets including superyachts, mansions and private jets valued at $672 million vanish from a company called Amiscan’s books through backdated transfers to a British Virgin Islands parent entity, the investigation found. The world’s largest accountancy firm also advised on a plan to eliminate a large tax bill on nearly $2 billion in proceeds from the 2003 sale of Sibneft shares that had sat in a Cypriot company called Kravin for years, according to the leaked emails and files. MeritServus, spun out from Deloitte, produced paperwork dated years earlier to portray Kravin as a mere trustee rather than owner of the funds, a move that erased the tax liability when Deloitte approved the revised accounts.
Barrister Andrew Mitchell KC, an expert in financial services law, reviewed the Panorama evidence and described the arrangement as straightforward tax evasion that could not be more blatant, the BBC reported. He noted that if such activity had occurred in England involving millions, His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs would consider prosecution. The Guardian separately reported in January 2025 that Abramovich may owe UK authorities up to 1 billion pounds in unpaid taxes and interest related to profits from a $6 billion hedge fund portfolio managed through offshore entities controlled from London.
Demetris Ioannides, former chair of Deloitte Cyprus who later ran Meritservus, served as a key gatekeeper and trustee for Abramovich’s Cyprus trusts while his firm handled the falsified documents, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism stated. Tenenbaum, described as the oligarch’s closest aide and a former Chelsea FC director, authorised many of the backdated agreements and may have given misleading evidence in a London high court case over a Siberian oil venture, according to the analysis of the records. The joint investigation traced the practices back to 1999 when Deloitte routed ownership of Sibneft through offshore islands to a Liechtenstein trust before scaling up to manage dozens of Abramovich entities.
In a related yacht management scheme that ran from 2005 until at least 2012, Abramovich’s advisors created a structure to make five superyachts appear available for commercial charter so operating companies could avoid European Union value added tax on fuel, maintenance and other costs, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project documented. The vessels, including Eclipse and Pelorus, were leased between companies all ultimately controlled by the same trusts despite appearing independent, according to a 2005 memo from a Blue Ocean Yacht Management director that called for separation to withstand scrutiny. Cyprus later pursued one of the entities for $15 million in unpaid VAT, OCCRP files show.
Leaked documents from 2023 reviewed by the Guardian revealed that 10 secretive offshore trusts holding at least $4 billion for Abramovich were amended in early February 2022, weeks before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions, to make his children the beneficiaries instead. The changes covered trophy assets such as luxury properties, a fleet of superyachts, helicopters and private jets while barring Abramovich from regaining control, the newspaper reported. Public Authority for Civil Information equivalents in offshore registries and multilaterals such as the World Bank have highlighted how such trust reorganisations complicate enforcement of sanctions against politically exposed persons.
Lawyers for Abramovich told the BBC that he was not involved in day-to-day management of the companies, did not authorise or instruct any falsification of documents and always obtained independent expert professional tax and legal advice which he followed. The statement added that he denies any evasion of taxes or concealment of wealth. Meritservus was sanctioned by the UK in 2023 for its role in helping Russian oligarchs obscure their assets, according to government announcements.
