The money paid by Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and a consortium of other investors to take over Chelsea in May 2022 remains frozen and, Kieran Maguire reveals, is still accumulating interest.
When Roman Abramovich sold Chelsea, the oligarch pledged that the funds would go to the victims of the war in Ukraine, whose outbreak led Vladimir Putin-linked Abramovich to be sanctioned by the UK Government and forced into the sale.
But almost four years on – after BlueCo have spent billions at Stamford Bridge and adopted a move-fast-break-things approach to running the club – the £2.5bn headline price is still effectively being held in escrow-type bank account.
This week, The Times reported that Abramovich is arguing that just £987m of the total (the “net proceeds” of the deal) is owed to Ukraine, with the remaining £1.4bn or so purportedly owed to a firm linked to Abramovich called Camberly International Investments.
Do you think Chelsea should sack Liam Rosenior? Or are you willing to give him more time?🤔
Chelsea FC v Paris Saint-Germain FC - UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
The matter has been raised umpteen times in Parliament, and the Government is now preparing to sue Abramovich’s Fordstam, the former parent company of Chelsea where the proceeds are held.
Abramovich’s legacy in the Premier League has been thrown into the spotlight this week. He made Chelsea a football superpower through brute force spending, winning dozens of trophies in his time in West London.
However, his investment also led to probably the biggest inflationary cycle in transfer and wage market history, ushering in a new ownership class of Gulf states, private equity giants and dizzyingly rich consortia.
And despite the scale of his backing at Stamford Bridge, Abramovich still used off-the-books payments to beat rivals to signings, including all-time Chelsea great Eden Hazard. This week, Chelsea were fined nearly £11m by the Premier League for these irregularities, escaping a sporting sanction.
That sentence has been seen as remarkably lenient by legal experts and rival fans alike. The FA’s verdict on the same matter is still in the pipeline, though a similar outcome is expected.
Abramovich’s name still rang out at the Bridge last night, however, as Chelsea fell to an 8-2 aggregate defeat by Paris Saint-Germain and were knocked out of the Champions League with a whimper.
Chelsea owner Todd Boehly walks across the pitch after the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg match between Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain FC at Stamford Bridge on March 17, 2026 in London, United Kingdom.
Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images
BlueCo, who self-reported the offences and are themselves accused of no wrongdoing, anticipated a financial penalty for the charges and held back £150m from the £2.5bn price for this very eventuality. That figure will comfortably absorb the impact for the American owners, though it is not clear what will happen to any money left over.
Speaking exclusively to The Chelsea Chronicle, University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Maguire explained: “BlueCo went down the route of worst-possible scenario and consequential damages.
“The history of the FA is that they don’t tend to fine that significantly, so I would imagine that BlueCo might have to repay some of that £150m.”
And what of the £1.4bn that Abramovich’s representatives say is owed to his Camberly company?
“That figure seems intuitively inconsistent,” said Maguire, “because Abramovich’s initial comments suggested that he was writing off what was due to Fordstam. If this is not the case, it was quite disingenuous of him to present the comments as he did.
“It’s another offshore company. Fordstam is also generating quite substantial interest on that money while it is in escrow. We don’t know who is going to be the beneficiary of that interest. There is a lack of transparency and initiative that is very frustrating.”
Should Chelsea be allowed to spend WHATEVER they want on transfers?
UEFA and the Premier League's rules don't think so…
Chelsea to debut new front-of-shirt sponsor IFS.ai against Burnley in the Premier League
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
What’s more, Fordstam’s accounts, which were released last week, reveal that the frozen funds are still accumulating interest, raising the stakes in the UK Government’s legal battle with Abramovich.
“The sale of the football club has gone into a bank account, whose interest was £62m in the financial year up to the end of June 2023.
“The proceeds of the sale of CFC group was £2.27bn, which is net of advisers charges and the amount withheld by Boehly and his colleagues. You would expect the interest to be repeated going forward.”
Assuming a similar level of compounding interest over the last three years (the accounts for which have not yet been published), that would imply that there is currently another £200m or so sitting in the Fordstam bank account at the time of writing.
Join Our Newsletter
Receive a digest of our best Chelsea content each week direct to your mailbox