{"id":49620,"date":"2025-06-03T03:17:22","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T07:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/uk-threatens-to-sue-abramovich-over-chelsea-sale\/03\/06\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T03:17:22","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T07:17:22","slug":"uk-threatens-to-sue-abramovich-over-chelsea-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/uk-threatens-to-sue-abramovich-over-chelsea-sale\/03\/06\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"UK threatens to sue Abramovich over Chelsea sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The UK government has threatened to sue former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich to make sure the money from the club&#8217;s sale goes to Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The \u00a32.5bn in proceeds have been frozen in a UK bank account since the sale, with Mr Abramovich sanctioned after Russia&#8217;s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The UK government wants the money to be for Ukrainian humanitarian aid, but Mr Abramovich has said he wants it to go to &#8220;all victims of the war in Ukraine&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a joint statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: &#8220;While the door for negotiations will remain open, we are fully prepared to pursue this through the courts if required.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They said they wanted &#8220;to ensure people suffering in Ukraine can benefit from these proceeds as soon as possible&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">They added: &#8220;The government is determined to see the proceeds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club reach humanitarian causes in Ukraine, following Russia&#8217;s illegal full-scale invasion.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We are deeply frustrated that it has not been possible to reach agreement on this with Mr Abramovich so far&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The delay in releasing the funds <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c9vydlzv31do?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:centres on a disagreement between the UK government and his lawyers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">centres on a disagreement between the UK government and his lawyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Mr Abramovich &#8211; a Russian billionaire who made his fortune in oil and gas &#8211; was granted a special licence to sell Chelsea following Russia&#8217;s invasion of Ukraine, providing he could prove he would not benefit from the sale.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He is alleged to have strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, something he has denied.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He cannot access the \u00a32.5bn sale proceeds under UK sanctions but the money still legally belongs to him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When he announced his decision to sell the club, he said proceeds from the sale would be donated via a foundation &#8220;for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine&#8221;, which would include those in Russia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The UK government has pushed back and argued that the funds should only be spent on humanitarian efforts inside Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A House of Lords committee said last year said it was &#8220;incomprehensible&#8221; that Mr Abramovich&#8217;s promise to use the funds to support Ukraine remained unfulfilled, and that the assets remained frozen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;This impasse reflects badly on both Mr Abramovich and the government, which ought to have pushed for a more binding commitment,&#8221; the report said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>[BBC]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/newsletters\/zhp28xs?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Byahoo.north.america%5D-%5Blink%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sign up here.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/uk-threatens-sue-abramovich-over-025217180.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UK government has threatened to sue former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich to make sure the money from the club&rsquo;s<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/uk-threatens-to-sue-abramovich-over-chelsea-sale\/03\/06\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/bbc_us_articles_995\/64f68d93b7ec1b82597074ef63dcf9ba","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}