Roman Abramovich. Paul Gillam / Getty Images
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Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich owns a $ 90 million mansion on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy.
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Known as St. Barts, the island’s economy is based on tourism from super-rich visitors like Abramovich.
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Faced with UK and EU sanctions, locals are defending Abramovich, calling him a “handsome man”.
As he faces growing sanctions, Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s reputation is being defended by unlikely supporters: locals on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthelemy.
“For more than a decade, locals and staff have become extremely wealthy, providing services to Abramovich and other ultra-wealthy clients,” an anonymous St. Barts resident told Forbes. “They don’t want it to end.”
Known as St. Barts, the island’s economy is based on tourism funds from super-rich visitors such as Abramovich, who has owned the island’s $ 90 million mansion since 2009. As it faces growing UK and EU sanctions, including more than $ 7 billion in frozen assets, the island’s locals describe him as a “handsome man” and defend his presence on the island as positive.
Abramovich, once called Russia’s most charitable billionaire, has a history of making large donations, including to the Israeli Holocaust Museum and the Nanotechnology Research Center at Tel Aviv University.
At St. Barts, he paid $ 4 million to rebuild the local football stadium in 2010, paid for repairs after a hurricane in 2017 and funded the repair of a saltwater pond important to the local ecosystem, according to Forbes.
Patrice Abderaham, a private chef who has worked for the oligarch several times, told Forbes that he believes France and the EU have gone astray by sanctioning Abramovich: “They put everyone in the same basket,” he said. “I hope he will succeed.
Read the original article in Business Insider
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