Russian Oligarch Acted As Whale For Legal Cannabis

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich backed a lot of the start-up capital for the legal cannabis industry, with most of the funding coming through a British Virgin Islands company called Cetus Investments, newly leaked documents revealed. Cetus is Latin for whale.

Photo Insert: Records show that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich was one of Curaleaf’s founding shareholders and the anchor of Curaleaf’s syndicated debt with some $186 million in loans.

Abramovich was sanctioned in the European Union, the U.K., and Canada after Russia’s Ukraine invasion, though he said he doesn’t merit the action. Leaked documents from a Cyprus-based firm made their way to a nonprofit journalism group that gave journalists a read of them and detailed Abramovich’s finances.

The oligarch didn’t respond to Barron’s, Bill Alpert reported.

The records show billions of dollars that Abramovich invested in US blue-chip stocks, films, oil and gas assets, art, venture capital, as well as the cannabis industry.

He funded marijuana media such as Toke.TV, sales software, and the drug’s state-licensed producers. One of his big bets was on Massachusetts producer Curaleaf Holdings.

Records show the billionaire was one of Curaleaf’s founding shareholders and the anchor of Curaleaf’s syndicated debt with some $186 million in loans.

When the Ukraine war began, he transferred his cannabis investments to family members and lent $84 million to Curaleaf’s largest shareholder and its chairman, stipulating it be used to buy Curaleaf stock.

Curaleaf says Abramovich never had any influence or decision-making role and has cut ties. He is “no longer a creditor to, or investor in, Curaleaf,” the company said.

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