Chelsea boss Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK

The UK government said on Thursday that the Russian tycoon’s assets would now be confiscated and a travel ban would be imposed. Mr Abramovich has already said he is looking to sell his British football club Chelsea FC, and a person familiar with his business said he has put his London properties on the market. The UK government said it would grant a special license that would allow Chelsea to continue working despite the restrictions.

The British government said Mr Abramovich had a net worth of £9.4 billion, the equivalent of $12.4 billion. Mr. Abramovich’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

The UK also announced sanctions against tycoon Oleg Deripaska and Rosneft chief executive Igor Sechin, VTB Bank chairman Andrey Kostin and Alexey Miller chief executive of Russian energy giant Gazprom, among other high-profile Russian oligarchs. The announcement marks the UK’s most high-profile sanctions to date. Representatives of these individuals were not immediately available for comment.

Across the West, Russian oligarchs are facing an unprecedented coordinated attack on businesses created after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Anger over the invasion in Ukraine – and hopes the sanctions could put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin – has triggered an unprecedented hunt for the wealth of these oligarchs by the US, British and European governments. London has become the epicenter of the investigation.

Since the mid-1990s, it was a welcome recipient of Russian investment. But in the wake of the invasion, Britain’s parliament is voting through emergency legislation to make it easier to freeze the assets of those with ties to the Kremlin. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said this would allow the country to approve hundreds of individuals by March 15.

The British government had recently been criticized for failing to sanction enough oligarchs, critics said, to sell assets or transfer them to allies. Mr Abramovich’s approval is now seen as a trophy by the UK government as it seeks to put pressure on Mr Putin and those allegedly linked to him. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “there can be no safe haven for those who have supported Putin’s vicious attack on Ukraine.”

Officials say that the British authorities had previously stopped clearing M/s Abramovich and Deripaska, who were cautious about a protracted legal battle.

When Roman Abramovich first arrived in London in the early 2000s, very few people here knew who he was. The bearded Russian visited London to visit football clubs. When he agreed to buy Chelsea, a down-on-heels soccer team in west London, the then-owners first had to Google him, according to people present. He bought the club in 2003.

The takeover by the oil tycoon was the beginning of a massive boom on London’s wealth that propelled the soft-spoken executive into the elite of the elite class in the British imagination. Mr Abramovich bought several luxury properties, including a 15-bed mansion on a street in London known as “Millionaire’s Row”. He has also bought several pieces of art and the world’s second largest yacht, which can hold several helicopters. Forbes has estimated his net worth at around $12 billion.

Within a few days, that trip to London turned upside down. According to a person familiar with the matter, his London home, which is worth an estimated £100 million, or about $132 million, is up for sale. So is Chelsea Football Club. Mr. Abramovich, who holds both Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, is rarely seen in London these days.