The global accounting firm Deloitte is facing serious allegations that it facilitated the falsification of documents to help Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich hide his massive fortune and evade taxes.
Leaked files from the Cypriot corporate services firm MeritServus, which was once owned by Deloitte, reveal a pattern of 'rewriting history' to shield assets from transparency laws and tax authorities.
According to the investigation, backdated paperwork was used to make assets worth $672 million—including superyachts, private jets, and luxury mansions—vanish from company accounts in 2006.
Legal experts have characterized the evidence as 'straightforward' tax evasion, noting that such blatant misrepresentation of financial records would likely trigger criminal prosecution if conducted in the United Kingdom.
In one instance, advisers allegedly backdated documents to falsely claim that a Cypriot company holding $2 billion in interest-earning funds did not actually own the money, thereby avoiding substantial tax bills.
Another scheme involved shifting the beneficial ownership of a $10 billion fortune to a shell company in the British Virgin Islands, using backdated records to disguise the true scale of the wealth.
While Abramovich’s legal team denies any wrongdoing, claiming he was not involved in daily operations and relied on professional advice, the documents paint a picture of a sophisticated network of Western financial and legal professionals willing to bend the rules to protect a prominent associate of Vladimir Putin.
Deloitte Cyprus maintains that it acts in compliance with applicable laws, though it claims it cannot comment on specific allegations due to the age of the documents.
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