Billionaire Abramovich Ally Sues Raine in US for Frozen Payouts

Raine Group LLC affiliates wrongly froze payouts to a Soviet-born billionaire sanctioned in the UK over his ties to Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch who once owned the English Premier League’s Chelsea FC, according to a lawsuit unsealed Thursday.

Eugene Shvidler is suing Raine in Delaware, saying it’s sitting on more than $4.1 million in limited partnership distributions without any justification other than a vague reference to the overseas sanctions, which Shvidler challenged unsuccessfully in UK court. His court case there—the first to take aim at sanctions imposed by the UK government after Russia invaded Ukraine—argued he was tarred ...