Abramovich's $50 million mansion in Colorado could be the first to fall under US sanctions

What happened. A mansion in the Rocky Mountains owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich is likely to be one of the first assets to be frozen by the US government if they come under White House sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine.

  Details. Among Abramovich's many world-class real estate trophies is a modern 1,300-square-meter mega-house in Snowmas, Colorado, near Aspen.

The Russian billionaire, whose fleet, Chelsea FC and giant houses in London, France and St. Barths made him famous in the West, bought the mansion in 2008 for $36.5 million.
Local brokers say it will sell for more than $50 million given skyrocketing property prices, making it the second most expensive home in the Aspen area.

“This is an incredible property and very rare,” said Riley Warwick, co-founder of the Saslove & Warwick brokerage team. “Many of my clients are already interested in her.”
Abramovich also owns another 510-square-meter home in Snowmas, which he bought in 2008 for $11.8 million. Local brokers say the estate near his large home is likely to serve as a guest house.

Experts say real estate will be a prime target for an asset freeze if US sanctions are imposed on Abramovich. The government can easily and quickly seize assets officially owned by a sanctioned person.

However, most US real estate owned by Russian billionaires and oligarchs is owned by anonymous shell companies or LLCs to hide their ownership. Many oligarchs have also passed on their US property to relatives or associates in recent years. Oleg Deripaska handed over his American real estate, including two townhouses in Manhattan and a house in Washington, to relatives. In 2018, Abramovich transferred ownership of three townhouses in Manhattan to his ex-wife Dasha Zhukova.
Abramovich has been sanctioned in the UK and Canada, but has yet to be sanctioned by the EU and the US. The White House is now weighing whether to include Abramovich in the next package of sanctions, according to people familiar with the discussions.