SEC Sues Firm That Managed Billions for Russian Oligarch

Concord’s assets were frozen due to the sanctions, but the investments are active and the firm and Matlin could resume management if the freeze was lifted, the SEC said in its suit.

Matlin, 59, of Airmont, New York, is a U.S. citizen who was born in Russia, emigrated to the U.S. in 1988 and founded Concord in 1999, according to the SEC.

The firm’s purpose was to provide supervisory and management services so that its client’s assets would be invested in a variety of US-based private fund investments, and it managed a portfolio with an estimated total value of $7.2 billion as of January 2022.

Concord mostly steered Abramovich’s money to the biggest and best-known U.S. firms, including Brevan Howard Asset Management, Millennium Management and Carlyle Group Inc., people familiar with Matlin’s firm told Bloomberg.

Abramovich, 56, who has a net worth of $7.3 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, amassed his fortune from the sale of privatized assets acquired from the former Soviet Union, including oil giant Sibneft and Aeroflot.

He became well-known in the U.K. in particular as the longtime owner of the Chelsea soccer team, which he sold in March 2022.

The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v Concord Management LLC, 23-cv-8253, US District Court, Southern District of New York.

(Credit: Bloomberg)