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6 Former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich may reportedly owe as much as £1bn to the UK in unpaid taxes that helped him fund the Blues’ success during his time at Stamford Bridge.
Abramovich had to sell Chelsea in 2022 due to the British government’s sanctions on Russia after their invasion of Ukraine, leading to Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali taking over.
It’s been a challenging period for Chelsea since then, with the club going through plenty of changes in terms of playing staff, coaches, and at board level under the new owners.
So far, it’s not brought the kind of success that Abramovich delivered, but the BBC have reported on some damning allegations against the wealthy Russian.
It’s reported that Abramovich may have avoided paying as much as a billion in taxes, though the piece also cites the 58-year-old as being unaware of any unpaid taxes.
Roman Abramovich remains popular with Chelsea fans but it’s hard to argue he was a force for good for English football
Roman Abramovich with the Champions League trophy (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)Abramovich delivered trophies when he invested huge amounts in Chelsea in 2003, with the club enjoying huge success before his departure and struggling again now that he’s left.
It’s no surprise that CFC supporters still think highly of the man who transformed their club, but it’s hard for anyone else to argue that he’s really been good for the English game.
Abramovich’s arrival at Chelsea will have inflated transfer fees and wages and made it harder for smaller clubs to compete.

 
And if Abramovich was also deliberately getting out of paying tax here, then that’s a huge amount of success enjoyed by Chelsea at the expense of the public services that many of their own fans rely on.
Labour MP Joe Powell has called on HMRC to investigate this case and potentially recover what might amount to “very significant amounts of money that could be invested in public services.”
