Eugene Tenenbaum says he doesn't hold assets for Abramovich

Eugene Tenenbaum, a Canadian citizen who has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom as a result of his association with Roman Abramovich, said Wednesday he doesn't hold assets for the Russian oligarch or his family and is confident that mistakes will be dealt with accordingly. We apologize for the video, but it didn't load.

You can see other videos from our team by tapping here. Try refreshing your browser, or I do not hold assets for Mr. Abramovich, Canadian sanctioned by the U.K. Tenenbaum, who came to Canada as a pre-teen in the mid 1970s from Ukraine, began working with Abramovich in the late 1990s at his oil company Sibneft, and when Abramovich bought the U.K. s Chelsea Football Club in 2003, Tenenbaum became a director. He has been associated with several companies linked to Abramovich. In an effort to pressure Russia out of its attack on Ukraine, the United Kingdom and other western countries including Canada have imposed sanctions on Russian entities and individuals. Abramovich was sanctioned in March by the U.K. and Canada and extended its sanctions to Tenenbaum and another long-time Abramovich associate, David Davidovich, as part of a sweep to freeze $16 billion of assets. Neither Tenenbaum nor Davidovich have faced sanctions in Canada.

I am not the owner of these companies or the beneficiary of the assets that these companies possess nor have I ever been In a statement Wednesday, Tenenbaum said that he has worked for Abramovich and his family in various capacities for more than 20 years, including as a director for Chelsea and other companies. He said that I am not the owner of these companies nor the beneficiary of the assets these companies have nor have I ever been. He said that I do not hold assets for Mr. Abramovich or his family and Mr. Abramovich or his family. Tenenbaum said he has no ownership or control over the assets, and was not an active director when the U.K. sanctions were imposed on him last week. In March, Reuters reported that Tenenbaum had bought Ervington, a company associated with Abramovich, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February and before the United Kingdom sanctioned Abramovich along with entities and other individuals in response to the invasion.

Last week when the U.K. expanded its sanctions to include Tenenbaum, a spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada declined to respond to questions about him or whether he would sanction Canadian citizen who now lives in the U.K. is under consideration. I do not believe that I will be sanctioned, as my statement makes very clear, said Tenenbaum to the Financial Post on Wednesday. Abramovich, a wealthy Russian businessman, has been sanctioned in the European Union as well as the U.K. and Canada over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he has so far avoided sanctions in the United States. It has been widely reported that the U.S. held off because Abramovich was assisting with negotiations between Russia and Ukraine aimed at resolving the armed conflict. In 2006, the billionaire was believed to have made a fortune selling energy company Sibneft to Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom for $13.1 billion. Abramovich is the largest shareholder of the London-listed steel company Evraz PLC, with a 28.64 per cent stake. Tenenbaum and Tenenbaum stepped down in March after U.K. sanctions, and the shares of the company — which has operations in Russia and North America, including in Alberta and Saskatchewan — were suspended from trading.