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Revealed How Abramovich Dodged Tax on Cost of Running His Superyachts
The Guardian|January 29, 2025
When it came to his fleet of superyachts, the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was nothing if not generous. As 2011 drew to a close, his biggest boat yet – the 162.5-metre (533ft) Eclipse – lay moored in the glittering waters of St Barts, the picturesque Caribbean island where billionaires like to gather to see in the new year.
- Rob Davies Simon Lock
Revealed How Abramovich Dodged Tax on Cost of Running His Superyachts

Then the largest pleasure cruiser in the world, insured for €390m (£330m), the ship was all set to welcome guests for Abramovich’s own VIP celebration.

Perhaps arriving via one of the yacht’s two helipads, they could cool their toes in the onboard swimming pools, unwind in the hot tubs or take in a film in the cinema before heading to the disco lounge.

As evening fell, guests including Rupert Murdoch and the now disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein assembled for a no-expense-spared party. The star attraction? A private concert by the US rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers, hired to play a set of at least 75 minutes for a cool $1m.

Abramovich had always been magnanimous with his yachts, documents show, welcoming guests including Chelsea football players Frank Lampard and John Terry, and the club’s manager José Mourinho.

But while Abramovich lavished money on enjoying the high life onboard his yachts, he appears to have been less forthcoming when it came to paying taxes on the expenses they incurred.

Today, an investigation by the Guardian, the BBC, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and international partners Der Spiegel and ZDF uncovers how an offshore scheme appears to have helped companies owned by the billionaire to avoid duties potentially totalling tens of millions of dollars. Experts have said the arrangements could amount to deliberate tax evasion.

Details came to light thanks to documents contained in Cyprus Confidential, the largest ever leak of information from the Mediterranean island’s offshore financial industry.

The files show how offshore companies were used to create a fiction: that five of Abramovich’s superyachts were being hired out for commercial purposes.

This allowed the boats’ operating companies to avoid paying VAT on a long list of expenses, such as the reported $2m-a-tank cost of refuelling the Eclipse.

This story is from the January 29, 2025 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the January 29, 2025 edition of The Guardian.

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