Current Chairman of the BBC – Richard Sharp, allegedly invested in a crypto company founded by a Russian Oligarch. Richard himself is a former banker and has been reportedly investing in a crypto-related company founded by the Russian Oligarch through an off-shore company.

Interestingly, the Russian Oligarch and his businesses are currently under sanctions that were imposed on Russia because of their invasion of Ukraine. The Guardian stated that Richard used a Cayman Islands registered company to invest in the Russian’s crypto-related company called Atomyze.

Atomyze was established in Switzerland by Vladimir Potanin, a famous Russian Oligarch. Potanin is also commonly known by people as the “Nickel King” and he is rumoured to have strong ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Notably, he was one of the oligarchs that Putin invited to the Kremlin at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The BBC Chairman allegedly invested in Atomyze through a company called ABCP GP Ltd. registered in the Cayman Islands. Atomyze is a blockchain-based company that leverages the technology to offer commodity trading services to its users. Most specifically, the commodities trading offered on the platform are metals produced by Potanin’s company.

Richard Sharp made these investments in 2019 and at that time, he wasn’t the chairman of the BBC yet. Richard’s investment trust spokesperson stated that he had a longstanding interest in emerging technology and that when he made those investments, there were no sanctions on Potanin.

Also, Richard has put the control of his investments in a blind trust. This represents an agreement that all his investments and funds are managed by a third party to completely avoid any possibly arising conflicts of interest. This means that Richard doesn’t have any directorial or financial interests in any businesses owned and managed by Vladimir Potanin.

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