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Deloitte Erased $672M in Assets for Oligarch Abramovich, Investigation Reveals
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One of the world’s largest accounting firms, Deloitte, helped forge documents to conceal the wealth of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich and assist him in tax evasion, according to an investigation by the BBC on October 12.
Deloitte Cyprus signed off on financial statements from which $672 million of Abramovich’s assets—including superyachts, luxury estates, and private jets—disappeared.
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The firm also reportedly helped develop a tax evasion scheme involving forged documentation. Legal expert Andrew Mitchell stated that evidence gathered by reporters points to tax evasion.
Abramovich’s lawyers stated that he denies dodging taxes or hiding wealth, adding that journalists provided no proof he was aware of or ordered document falsification. Representatives for Deloitte Cyprus stated that the firm acts in accordance with applicable laws.
The BBC revealed that the earliest backdating case identified by journalists dates back to 2006, when Cyprus passed a law requiring companies to publish financial disclosures. Deloitte Cyprus drafted a 2003 financial statement for Amiscan Investments, a Cyprus firm linked to Abramovich, listing $672 million in assets.
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The list contained a West Sussex estate, luxury apartments in London, a mansion in the south of France, as well as helicopters, private jets, and several yachts, including the $147.5 million Pelorus. According to the investigation, Deloitte Cyprus advised Abramovich’s company on a tax avoidance scheme.
To hide the assets from public disclosure, individuals in the oligarch’s inner circle and the firm MeritServus transferred them to Amiscan Investments’ parent company in the British Virgin Islands. The transfer date was backdated by three years to make the transaction appear as though it took place in 2003.
Deloitte Cyprus reviewed the backdated documents and deemed them an adequate basis for removing the assets from Amiscan’s statements. In 2006, Deloitte signed off on the 2003 statements, erasing the homes, jets, and yachts, leaving listed assets of just $75 thousand.
Beyond the documents processed by Deloitte, Abramovich’s advisors at MeritServus forged another set of records involving over $10 billion in business assets held by his Cyprus company, Electus Investments, as reported by the BBC.
MeritServus backdated documents to create the impression that Electus did not hold these assets, transferring them on paper to a firm of the same name registered in the British Virgin Islands, where public financial reporting is not required.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on October 12, 2026, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha argued that sanctions pressure on Russia had to continue to increase throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
He stated that the EU’s decision on September 22 to remove two Russian oligarchs, Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman, from its sanctions list was a wrong step. Consequently, Ukraine planned to propose imposing sanctions on ten more Russian oligarchs, while Sybiha expressed hope that the EU would adopt its 22nd sanctions package against Russia as soon as possible, further isolate Moscow, and make full use of frozen Russian assets.
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