The money from the sale of Chelsea is still frozen. There is a chance that they will finally go to the victims of the war

The former owner of London’s Chelsea, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, announced at the end of February 2022 that he was relinquishing management of the football club. He made the decision after the British government imposed the first sanctions against Russia, but passed regulations that hit Russian oligarchs living in the UK.

A year ago, Abramovich sold the club he led for 20 years

Within weeks, Abramovich was sidelined from making decisions about the club he had been in charge of for two decades. However, this suspension could not last indefinitely, especially since subsequent sanctions packages came into force. Abramovich could not help but feel that he was not welcome in business, and the reluctance to him, sooner or later, could affect the sports club he owns.

In May 2022, the club’s management announced that it had a new owner, but in fact four: Todd Boly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjorg Wyss bought Abramovich’s shares for 2.5 billion pounds. However, the money did not go to the Russian billionaire, who for many years was a confidant of Vladimir Putin. They were frozen for charitable purposes.

Money from the sale of Chelsea has not yet gone to help victims of the war

Despite the fact that a year has passed, a huge amount has not yet been directed to help those affected by the war. However, there is a possibility that in June the money will finally be released. The head of the fund, which will manage the funds, admitted in an interview with The Times that the process of transferring money is taking much longer than expected, but he hopes that the matter is in the home stretch.

“We believe we are in the final stages - next week will be a year, and we hope that by then we will have settled all legal issues,” said Mike Penrose.

He explained that the change of government in the UK twice in the last year was one of the reasons why the process took so long. In addition, Abramovich will have to give final consent to the transfer of funds. The money is frozen, not taken - and there is a difference.

Here you can recall who are the people who bought Ambramovich’s shares and have been managing the London club for a year now. The consortium is led by Todd Boli. He is an American billionaire who is also the co-owner of the American football club LA Dodgers. Mark Walter and Hansjörg Wyss also made billions of fortunes.

“Of the total investment, £2.5bn will be used to purchase shares in the club, with proceeds transferred to a frozen UK bank account with the intention of giving 100% to the club. to charity, which was confirmed by Roman Abramovich. Transferring funds from a frozen UK account will require UK government approval. In addition, the proposed new owners will put £1.75bn into further investment in the club. This will include investments in Stamford Bridge, the academy, women’s team and Kingsmeadow, as well as further funding from the Chelsea Foundation.