As the Russian-Ukraine conflict drags on, Russian millionaire Roman Abramovich is said to be pleading with his Hollywood and US power broker friends to lend him $1 million each to keep him afloat while his assets are blocked by international authorities.
According to Page Six, Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich, whose bank accounts in the United States and the United Kingdom have been frozen, has been seeking loans from prominent and powerful friends in order to maintain his rumored $750,000-per-week staff payroll, which includes those who keep his multiple luxury super-yachts afloat.
Even while he participates in the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, his allies are thought to be leery of lending him money.
According to a source who spoke to the publication,
“Roman is requesting a $1 million loan from a few of his most powerful buddies.
“He claims he has never missed payroll for his workforce, which is $750,000 each week, and that he can’t pay them because his assets are seized.”
“He’s asked Hollywood producer and director Brett Ratner and the Rothschild family, among others, for money, but despite their friendship with Roman, they have refused to give him money, either because they don’t have it in liquid cash or because it’s unclear what the legal ramifications would be.”
Abramovich has many close friends in Hollywood, Wall Street, and the IT sector, and has held a number of star-studded celebrity parties on his yachts and at his enormous St Barth’s home.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the European Union sanctioned Abramovich, who has a net worth of $14.3 billion, according to Bloomberg.
Hedge funds in the United States also put a freeze on his assets. Abramovich was also barred from benefitting from the $3 billion sale of Chelsea Football Club as a result of the fines.