Offshore firm links BBC chair to sanction-hit Russian ‘Nickel King’
The BBC’s chair used an offshore Cayman Islands company to invest in a crypto business founded by a now sanction-hit Russian oligarch.
Richard Sharp was an early investor in Atomyze, a Swiss blockchain business established by the oligarch Vladimir Potanin. Also known as the “Nickel King”, Potanin has played ice hockey with Vladimir Putin and was one of the oligarchs summoned to the Kremlin when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Potanin was hit with sanctions by the UK government in June as part of a crackdown on “Putin’s inner circle”. The Foreign Office said the oligarch – once considered Russia’s richest man – was targeted because he “continues to amass wealth as he supports Putin’s regime”.
It is unclear how the Russian ended up in business with Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker and Conservative party donor who was appointed as chair of the BBC by Boris Johnson’s government.
Sharp’s previously unreported investment in the oligarch’s Atomyze crypto business was made in 2019 through a Cayman Islands company called ABCP GP Ltd. The Cayman Islands are an offshore tax haven known for publishing limited financial documents on who owns businesses.
Atomyze uses blockchain technology to trade commodities, especially metals produced by Potanin’s Nornickel company, which dominates the global market for nickel.
The future BBC chair subsequently became a company director of Atomyze for two months. Although Sharp has since stepped down from this role, Swiss corporate filings show an individual who works for Sharp’s personal investment office continues to sit on the board of directors.
There is no suggestion Sharp has breached any of the recently introduced UK government sanctions, which would prevent ongoing financial dealings with Potanin or
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