Roman Abramovich

Abramovich has been married and divorced three times. In December 1987, following a brief stint in the Soviet Army, he married Olga Yurevna Lysova; they divorced in 1990. In October 1991, he married a former Russian Aeroflot stewardess, Irina Vyacheslavovna Malandina. They divorced in 2007. He and Malandina have five children; Ilya, Arina, Sofia, Arkadiy and Anna. On 15 October 2006, the News of the World reported that Irina had hired two top UK divorce lawyers, following reports of Abramovich's close relationship with the then 25-year-old Dasha Zhukova, daughter of a prominent Russian oligarch, Alexander Zhukov. It was speculated that a future divorce settlement (amounting to a conjectured £5.5 billion (€6.5 billion)) might be the highest ever on record. The Abramoviches replied that neither had consulted attorneys at that point. However, they later divorced in Russia in March 2007, with a reported settlement of US$300 million (€213 million). Abramovich married Zhukova in 2008, and they have two children, a son, Aaron Alexander, and a daughter, Leah Lou. In August 2017, the couple announced that they would separate; and their divorce was finalised in 2018.

In 1988, as perestroika opened up opportunities for privatization in the Soviet Union, Abramovich got a chance to legitimise his old business. He and Olga set up a company making dolls. Within a few years his wealth spread from oil conglomerates to pig farms. He has traded in timber, sugar, food stuffs and other kinds of products. Abramovich set up and liquidated at least 20 companies during the early 1990s, in sectors as diverse as tire retreading and bodyguard recruitment.

In 1992 he was arrested and sent to prison in a case of theft of government property: AVEKS-Komi sent a train containing 55 cisterns of diesel fuel, worth 3.8 million roubles, from the Ukhta Oil Refinery; Abramovich met the train in Moscow and resent the shipment to the Kaliningrad military base under a fake agreement, but the fuel arrived in Riga. Abramovich co-operated with the investigation, and the case was closed after the oil production factory was compensated by the diesel's buyer, the Latvian-US company, Chikora International.

According to two different sources, Abramovich first met Berezovsky either at a meeting with the Russian businessmen in the Caribbean in 1993 or in the summer of 1995 on the yacht of his friend Pyotr Aven.

In May 1995, jointly with Boris Berezovsky, he set up the P.K. Trust closed joint-stock company. In 1995 and 1996, he established another 10 firms: Mekong close joint-stock company, Centurion-M close joint-stock company, Agrofert limited liability company, Multitrans close joint-stock company, Oilimpex close joint-stock company, Sibreal close joint-stock company, Forneft close joint-stock company, Servet close joint-stock company, Branco close joint-stock company, Vector-A limited liability company, which, again together with Berezovsky, he used to purchase the shares of the Sibneft public company.

Together with Berezovsky, Abramovich founded the Gibraltar-registered offshore company Runicom Ltd. and five Western European subsidiaries. Abramovich headed the Moscow affiliate of the Swiss firm, Runicom S.A. In August 1995, Sibneft was created by Boris Yeltsin's presidential decree. It was rumored that Abramovich was the chief of the organization with Berezovsky promoting the business in higher circles.

In 1995, Abramovich and Berezovsky acquired a controlling interest in the large oil company Sibneft. The deal took place within the controversial loans-for-shares program and each partner paid US$100 million for half of the company, above the stake's stock market value of US$150 million at the time, and rapidly turned it up into billions. The fast-rising value of the company led many observers, in hindsight, to suggest that the real cost of the company should have been in the billions of dollars (it was worth US$2.7 billion at that time) Abramovich later admitted in court that he paid huge bribes (in millions) to government officials and obtained protection from gangsters to acquire these and other assets (including aluminium assets during the aluminium wars).

By 1996, at the age of 30, Abramovich had become close to President Boris Yeltsin, and had moved into an apartment inside the Kremlin at the invitation of the Yeltsin family.

In 1999, the 33-year-old Abramovich was elected governor of the Russian province of Chukotka. He ran for a second term as governor in 2005. The Kremlin press service reported that Abramovich's name had been sent for approval as governor for another term to Chukotka's local parliament, which confirmed his appointment on 21 October 2005.

Abramovich was the first person to originally recommend to Yeltsin that Vladimir Putin be his successor as the Russian president. When Putin formed his first cabinet as Prime Minister in 1999, Abramovich interviewed each of the candidates for cabinet positions before they were approved. Subsequently, Abramovich would remain one of Putin's closest confidants. In 2007, Putin consulted in meetings with Abramovich on the question of who should be his successor as president; Medvedev was personally recommended by Abramovich.

In 1999, Abramovich was elected to the State Duma as the representative for the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, an impoverished region in the Russian Far East. He started the charity Pole of Hope to help the people of Chukotka, especially children, and in December 2000, was elected governor of Chukotka, replacing Alexander Nazarov.

As of 2000, Sibneft produced around US$3 billion worth of oil annually. Abramovich established several "fly-by-night" firms and together with Berezovsky used them to acquire the stock of Sibneft.

In early July 2008, it was announced that President Dmitri Medvedev had accepted Abramovich's request to resign as governor of Chukotka, although his various charitable activities in the region would continue. In the period 2000–2006 the average salaries in Chukotka increased from about US$165 (€117/£100) per month in 2000 to US$826 (€588/£500) per month in 2006.

In 2003, Abramovich was named Person of the Year by Expert, a Russian business magazine. He shared this title with Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

In June 2003, Abramovich became the owner of the companies that control Chelsea Football Club in West London. The previous owner of the club was Ken Bates, who went on to buy Leeds United. Chelsea immediately embarked on an ambitious programme of commercial development, with the aim of making it a worldwide brand on a par with footballing dynasties such as Manchester United and Real Madrid, and also announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art training complex in Cobham, Surrey.

In March 2004, Sibneft agreed to a three-year sponsorship deal worth €41.3 million (US$58 million) with the Russian team CSKA Moscow. Although the company explained that the decision was made at management level, some viewed the deal as an attempt by Abramovich to counter accusations of being "unpatriotic" which were made at the time of the Chelsea purchase. UEFA rules prevent one person owning more than one team participating in UEFA competitions, so Abramovich has no equity interest in CSKA. A lawyer, Alexandre Garese, is one of his partners in CSKA.

In January 2005, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) indicated that it would be suing Abramovich over a £9 million (US$14.9 million/€10.6 million) loan. The EBRD said that it is owed US$17.5 million (€12.45 million/£10.6 million) by Runicom, a Switzerland-based oil trading business which had been controlled by Abramovich and Eugene Shvidler. Abramovich's spokesman indicated that the loan had previously been repaid.

Following an investigation, Abramovich was cleared by UEFA of having a conflict of interest. Nevertheless, he was named "most influential person in Russian football" in the Russian magazine Pro Sport at the end of June 2004. In May 2005, CSKA won the UEFA Cup, becoming the first Russian club ever to win a major European football competition. In October 2005, however, Abramovich sold his interest in Sibneft and the company's new owner Gazprom, which sponsors Zenit Saint Petersburg, cancelled the sponsorship deal.

In addition to his involvement in professional football, Abramovich sponsors a foundation in Russia called the National Academy of Football. The organization sponsors youth sports programs throughout the country and has constructed more than fifty football pitches in various cities and towns. It also funds training programs for coaches, prints instruction materials, renovates sports facilities and takes top coaches and students on trips to visit professional football clubs in England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 2006 the Academy of Football took over the administration of the Konoplyov football academy at Primorsky, near Togliatti, Samara Oblast, where over 1,000 youths are in residence, following the death at 38 of its founder, Yuri Konoplev.

Abramovich sponsored an exhibition of photographs of Uzbekistan by renowned Soviet photographer Max Penson (1893–1959) which opened on 29 November 2006 at the Gilbert Collection at Somerset House in London. He previously funded the exhibition "Quiet Resistance: Russian Pictorial Photography 1900s–1930s" at the same gallery in 2005. Both exhibits were organized by the Moscow House of Photography.

Abramovich is present at nearly every Chelsea game and shows visible emotion during matches, a sign taken by supporters to indicate a genuine love for the sport, and usually visits the players in the dressing room following each match. This stopped for a time in early 2007, when press reports appeared of a feud between Abramovich and manager Mourinho regarding the performance of certain players, notably Andriy Shevchenko.

In the early hours of 20 September 2007, Mourinho announced his exit as Chelsea manager by mutual consent with the club following a meeting with the board. The former Israel coach and Chelsea's director of football, Avram Grant, was named as his replacement. Ever since Grant had joined Chelsea in 2007, there had been friction between him and Mourinho. Mourinho reportedly told Grant not to interfere in team affairs but, with Abramovich's backing, Grant's profile at the club rose after he was made a member of the board. This event apparently did not go down well with Mourinho and may have contributed to his surprise departure. Grant led Chelsea to the position of runners-up in the Premiership and the club's first appearance in the Champions League final, beaten by Manchester United on both accounts. Nevertheless, on 24 May 2008, Grant was sacked as manager by Abramovich.

Berezovsky alleged in 2008 that Abramovich harassed him with "threats and intimidation" to cheat him to sell his valuable shares of Sibneft at less than their true worth.

In 2008, The Times reported that court papers showed Abramovich admitting that he paid billions of dollars for political favours and protection fees to obtain a big share of Russia's oil and aluminium assets.[Citation required]

On 11 June 2008, it was announced that Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had taken Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002, would be taking over as manager, but he only lasted until 9 February 2009 before being sacked. In February 2009, acclaimed coach Guus Hiddink was appointed caretaker manager for the rest of the 2008–09 season, delivering Chelsea's first post-Mourinho trophy with the FA Cup.

In May 2008, Abramovich emerged as a major buyer in the international art auction market. He purchased Francis Bacon's Triptych 1976 for €61.4 million (US$86.3 million) (a record price for a post-war work of art) and Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping for €23.9 million (US$33.6 million) (a record price for a work by a living artist).

His partner Dasha Zhukova is managing a Garage Center for Contemporary Culture - gallery of contemporary art in Moscow that was initially housed in the historical Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage building by Konstantin Melnikov. The building, neglected for decades and partially taken apart by previous tenants, was restored in 2007–2008 and reopened to the public in September 2008. Speed and expense of restoration is credited to sponsorship by Abramovich.

According to Forbes, as of March 2016, Abramovich had a net worth of US$7.6 billion, ranking him as the 151st richest person in the world. Prior to the 2008 financial crisis, he was considered to be the second richest person living within the United Kingdom. Early in 2009, The Times estimated that due to the global economic crisis he had lost £3 billion from his £11.7 billion wealth.

Hiddink was replaced by another former European Cup winning boss, Carlo Ancelotti. In May 2010, Ancelotti took Chelsea to their first league and FA Cup "double" in his first season as manager. The following season, in January 2011, Spanish footballer Fernando Torres completed his move to Chelsea on a 5 ⁄2-year contract on 31 January for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £50 million, which set a new record for a British transfer and made him the fourth most expensive footballer in history. Ancelotti was sacked as manager at the end of his second season with the club in May 2011.

In 2011, a transcript emerged of a taped conversation that took place between Abramovich and Berezovsky at Le Bourget airport in December 2000. Badri Patarkatsishvili, a close acquaintance of Berezovsky, was also present and secretly had the conversation recorded. During the discussion, Berezovsky spoke of how they should "legalise" their aluminium business, and later claimed in court that he was an undisclosed shareholder in the aluminium assets and that "legalisation" in this case meant to make his ownership "official". In response, Abramovich states in the transcript that they cannot legalise because the other party in the 50-50 joint venture (Rusal) would need to do the same, in a supposed reference to his business partner Oleg Deripaska. Besides Deripaska, references are made to several other players in the aluminium industry at the time that would have had to "legalise" their stake. Abramovich's lawyers later claimed that "legalisation" meant structuring protection payments to Berezovsky to ensure they complied with Western antimoney-laundering regulations.

In 2011, Berezovsky brought a civil case against Abramovich, called Berezovsky v Abramovich, in the High Court of Justice in London, accusing Abramovich of blackmail, breach of trust and breach of contract, and seeking over £3 billion in damages.

André Villas-Boas, after taking Porto to a Europa League triumph, and having previously worked alongside Mourinho at Stamford Bridge, was appointed as Abramovich's seventh manager of Chelsea on 22 June 2011. Villas-Boas, however, was sacked in on 4 March due to a bad run of form, with only one win in 11 games. The next manager was Roberto Di Matteo, who was appointed to this role after winning the Champions League and the FA Cup serving in a caretaker capacity. Di Matteo was also sacked on 21 November 2012 after their 3–0 loss to Juventus. Former Liverpool boss Rafael Benítez was appointed as manager for the remainder of the club's campaign. He won Chelsea the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League against Benfica before leaving at the end of his term as interim manager.

In 2011, Abramovich hired the Red Hot Chili Peppers to perform for a reported £5m. The performance by Red Hot Chili Peppers included a special appearance from Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals. Abramovich reportedly spent £5 million on a total of 300 guests, including George Lucas, Martha Stewart, Marc Jacobs and Jimmy Buffett. In 2014, Abramovich hired British singer Robbie Williams to headline a New Year's dinner for President Putin's "inner circle". The party took place in Moscow and appears to have been the inspiration for Williams' song "Party Like a Russian".

In September 2012, the High Court judge Elizabeth Gloster said that Abramovich's influence on Putin was limited: "There was no evidential basis supporting the contention that Mr Abramovich was in a position to manipulate, or otherwise influence, President Putin, or officers in his administration, to exercise their powers in such a way as to enable Mr Abramovich to achieve his own commercial goals."

On 31 August 2012, the High Court dismissed the lawsuit. The High Court judge stated that because of the nature of the evidence, the case hinged on whether to believe Berezovsky or Abramovich's evidence. The judge found Berezovsky to be "an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes", whereas Abramovich was seen as "a truthful, and on the whole, reliable witness".

After the 2012–13 season, Benítez left Chelsea, whereupon José Mourinho returned as manager, signing a four-year deal. On 1 July 2013, Chelsea celebrated ten years under Abramovich's ownership. Before the first game of the 2013–14 season against Hull City on 18 August 2013, the Russian thanked Chelsea supporters for ten years of support in a short message on the front cover of the match programme, saying, "We have had a great decade together and the club could not have achieved it all without you. Thanks for your support and here's to many more years of success."

According to Putin, Abramovich has been cheated by Ukrainian-Cypriot-Israeli oligarch Igor Kolomoyskyi. Putin claimed in 2014 that Kolomoyskyi had reneged on a contract with Abramovich, saying that the pair signed a multibillion-dollar deal on which Kolomoyskyi never delivered.

In 2015, Abramovich invested and led a $30 million round of funding with businessman OD Kobo Chairman of PIR Equities. Other partners include several well-known people from the music industry, among them David Guetta, Nicki Minaj, Tiësto, Avicii, will.i.am, Benny Andersson, Dave Holmes (manager of Coldplay) and others.

In December 2015, José Mourinho was sacked after a ninth defeat in 16 Premier League matches left Chelsea just one point above the relegation zone. Guus Hiddink took over as manager from December to June 2016 after which he was sacked due to the club going several matches without a win and not qualifying for a spot in the Champions League.

Abramovich owns the Varsano boutique hotel in Tel Aviv's Neve Tzedek neighborhood, which he bought for 100 million NIS in 2015 from Gal Gadot's husband Yaron Varsano and Varsano's brother Guy. In January 2020, Abramovich purchased a property in Herzliya Pituah for a record 226 million NIS.

On 4 April 2016, it was confirmed Antonio Conte had signed a three-year contract. The Italian officially took over at Stamford Bridge, replacing interim manager Guus Hiddink after guiding his country to the quarter-finals of UEFA Euro 2016.

Conte had two successful years as head coach of Chelsea after being appointed in April 2016, winning the title in his first season and the FA Cup in his second. Despite the FA Cup success, he led Chelsea finished fifth in the league at the end of the 2017–18 season, missing out on Champions League qualification. Conte was dismissed as Chelsea manager on 13 July 2018.

Abramovich owns a private Boeing 767-33A/ER, registered in Aruba as P4-MES. It is known as The Bandit due to its livery. Originally the aircraft was ordered by Hawaiian Airlines but the order was cancelled and Abramovich bought it from Boeing and refitted it to his own requirements by Andrew Winch, who designed the interior and exterior. The aircraft was estimated in 2016 to cost US$300 million and its interior is reported to include a 30-seat dining room, a boardroom, master bedrooms, luxury bathrooms with showers, and a spacious living room. The aircraft has the same air missile avoidance system as Air Force One.

In 2016, Abramovich applied for residency in Switzerland, intending to move to the ski resort of Verbier. Swiss authorities denied the application after the Swiss Federal Office of Police concluded that Abramovich was under "suspicion of money laundering and presumed contacts with criminal organisations", and that his assets were "at least partially of illegal origin". Abramovich unsuccessfully took legal action to prevent Swiss media from reporting on the matter, and denied the allegations.

Abramovich is one of many Russian "oligarchs" named in the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.

In March 2017, Chelsea announced it had received approval to for a revamped £500m stadium at Stamford Bridge with a capacity of up to 60,000.

In November 2017 the yacht docked in the port of Palm Beach, coinciding with President Trump's Thanksgiving holiday at nearby Mar-a-Lago.

On 14 July 2018, Maurizio Sarri was appointed manager of Chelsea, replacing Antonio Conte who was sacked the day before. However, despite winning the Europa League, reaching the EFL Cup final and finishing 3rd, he departed after just one season, leaving for Italian giants Juventus. The departure was marked as Sarri wanted to leave, as compared to all other managers under Abramovich's tenure who were dismissed.

Following the delay in the renewal of Abramovich's British visa by the Home Office, and his subsequent withdrawal of the application, in May 2018 Chelsea halted plans to build a £500m stadium in south-west London due to the "unfavourable investment climate" and the lack of assurances about Abramovich's immigration status. Abramovich was set to invest hundreds of millions of pounds for the construction of the stadium.

In May 2018, Abramovich became an Israeli citizen a month after the UK delayed renewing his visa. Following the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, British authorities delayed the renewal of his visa, as tensions rose between the UK and Russia. Abramovich had been travelling in and out of the UK for years on a Tier-1 investor visa, designed for wealthy foreigners who invest at least £2 million in Britain. Abramovich, who is Russian Jewish, exercised his right under Israel's Law of Return, which states that Jews from anywhere in the world can become citizens of Israel. As an Israeli, Abramovich can now visit Britain visa-free but not permitted to work or conduct business transactions.

Abramovich has also invested in more than a dozen Israeli startups including rapid-battery charger technology developer Storedot. In 2018, he donated 70 million NIS for the Sheba Hospital in Tel HaShomer, for nuclear medicine research.

Abramovich has reportedly spent approximately GB£1.5 bn on the Pole of Hope, his charity set up to help those in the Arctic region of Chukotka, where he was governor. In June 2019, Abramovich donated $5 million to the Jewish Agency for Israel, to support efforts to combat anti-Semitism globally. Reportedly donated to El'ad Association for development of Jerusalem archeology and property.