Federal authorities are investigating Concord Management, the small investment advisory firm that oversaw billions of dollars in investments in Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s hedge fund, people close to the company said.
Investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation suggest, at least in part, that Abramović’s associates used a series of offshore shell companies to make up to $8 billion to dozens of U.S. hedge funds and private companies. Focus on how you invested. The company has been investing for the past 20 years, according to people familiar with the matter.
Authorities are seeking information about the flow of funds to and from a dozen shell companies based in shelters such as the British Virgin Islands and Jersey.
The SEC began issuing subpoenas about two months ago in its investigation of a company in Tarrytown, New York. Attorneys in the SEC’s Boston office overseeing the investigation have begun interviewing people familiar with Concord’s operations, the people said.
A New York-based FBI agent was also interviewed in a separate investigation from the SEC investigation, one of the people said.
Both investigations focused in part on tracking how the funds were invested and whether investments recommended and arranged by Concord may have masked the involvement of Russian oligarchs. Your inquiry is in the early stages and will not incur any charges.
Concord was founded in 1999 and its business revolved around selecting potential hedge fund and private equity investments for offshore entities related to Mr. Abramovich. The company is led by founder Michael Matlin.
A spokeswoman for Matlin said she could not be reached for comment.
Representatives for the SEC and FBI declined to comment.
The investigation comes weeks after The New York Times first reported Concord’s role in overseeing Mr. Abramovich’s hedge fund investments. Scrutiny by federal officials has led some in Congress to close loopholes that allow hedge funds and private equity firms to, in some cases, circumvent the same kinds of anti-money laundering and know-your-customer checks. It is done when propelled to Banks and mutual funds must perform regularly.
The loophole received renewed attention this year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the decision by the British government and the European Union to impose sanctions on Mr Abramović. As a result, he was forced to sell London’s famed Chelsea football club, and authorities seized over $13 billion in assets held by banks and financial institutions in the United Kingdom, the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands. was frozen.
Dozens of hedge funds and private-equity firms have accepted investments from Mr. Abramovich’s offshore entities, many of them arranged by Concord, according to internal documents produced by a Wall Street firm. The fund was managed by Millennium Management, BlackRock, Paulson, Carlyle Group, DE Shaw and others, according to people briefed on the matter and the documents.
However, the names of most of the hedge funds Concord has channeled its investment capital into remain unknown.
Concord kept a low profile. It has no website and a dozen employees. Not registered as an investment adviser with any US regulatory authority. Its office is in an unremarkable building off a suburban highway, behind a windowless black metal door. Twice recently, when reporters knocked, no one answered.
It’s unclear how many hedge funds and private equity firms have found Concord to represent his interests because of the daisy chain of offshore entities that Abramovic’s associates use to invest his funds. . But in recent years, Concord’s ties to Mr. Abramovich have become widely known on Wall Street, industry insiders said.
A citizen of Israel and Portugal, Abramovich made billions by buying a Russian state-owned oil company for $200 million and selling it for nearly $12 billion a few years later. He has close ties to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin. Abramović was the governor of a Russian state when Putin was in power nearly two decades ago.
The United States has not imposed sanctions on Abramović, but federal prosecutors filed court papers in June seeking the seizure of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner and a Gulfstream jet allegedly belonging to him. In total, he said planes worth more than $400 million were moved to other countries in violation of US export controls imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, federal officials said.
According to court documents, Abramović hid ownership of the plane through a series of shell companies with offshore jurisdictions.
Abramović hired the law firm Cobre & Kim in July to represent him “in connection with judicial and administrative proceedings” and to lobby the U.S. government, according to documents the law firm filed with the federal government. Kim said Abramović has acted as an intermediary between Russia and Ukraine and has been “deeply involved in advocating and coordinating the establishment of humanitarian corridors and other humanitarian relief missions.”
A spokeswoman for Cobre & Kim declined to comment.
