Although the UK capital is known as a haven for Russia’s super-rich, it could be much more than that. Official records of Russian ownership are limited to those that show up in Land Registry and Companies House searches. HARNESS Data Intelligence has added new data to expand the search to include properties held by offshore companies. The most assets were found in London. Liverpool, with 1,703, is the next largest city. There is no evidence that any of these records are linked to the Putin regime. There is no evidence that any of these data records are linked to the Putin regime. Belgravia’s Eaton Square is located in the borough. This square has been nicknamed ‘Red Square’ because of its popularity with Russian billionaires. Lambeth, south London, has 112, closely followed by Camden (80) and Brent (81). Other areas with high records are Southwark (74), Croydon (75) and Kensington (74). It is difficult to determine which of the 17,000 Russian-owned assets in the UK are linked to sanctioned billionaires. Some, like Beechwood House in Highgate worth GBP82m, have been found to belong to Alisher Usmanov, an offshore trust. According to reports, Usmanov transferred Beechwood House along with another property located in Surrey and his private yacht into an offshore trust before he was subject to the sanctions. According to reports, Fridman, a billionaire based in the UK, purchased a large property in Athlone House in north London for GBP65m in 2016. He later upgraded it to include a wine cellar and cinema room. Nearly GBP430million worth of property is located in the City of Westminster. GBP283million is in Kensington and Chelsea, and GBP165million is in Camden. “You had two cohorts. People who purchased flats in Belgravia in central London. For those with children, they might look in Hampstead and Highgate to find a house that is the right size for them. They might also look at estates in the suburbs like Wentworth in Surrey. Scarisbrick stated that while it was once common for buyers to purchase properties through offshore corporations, it has become less common since the crackdown on tax evasion by the government in 2015.
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