Oligarch Roman Abramovich’s $50 million Colorado mansion could become

A Rocky Mountain mansion owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich would likely be among the first assets frozen by the U.S. government if he is sanctioned by the White House in response to the war in Ukraine, according to attorneys and real-estate executives.

Among Abramovich’s many global real-estate trophies is a 14,000-square-foot modern mega-home on 200 acres in Snowmass, Colorado, just outside of Aspen. The Russian billionaire, whose yacht fleet, soccer team and giant homes in London, France and St. Bart’s gave him a high profile in the West, bought the property in 2008 for $36.5 million. Local brokers say the property would likely sell for well over $50 million given soaring prices — making it the second most expensive home ever sold in the Aspen area.

“It’s an incredible property, and very rare,” said Riley Warwick, co-founder of Aspen-based brokerage team Saslove & Warwick at Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “A lot of my clients have been asking about it.”

Abramovich also owns a 5,500-square-foot chalet-style home in Snowmass Village, which he purchased in 2008 for $11.8 million, according to local property records. The property, just down the road from his bigger home, likely serves as a guest house, caretaker’s house or ski house, since it’s next to the slopes, local brokers say.

Experts say the properties are prime targets for an asset freeze if Abramovich is sanctioned. Unlike most oligarch-owned real estate in the U.S., the Snowmass properties were both purchased and remain in Abramovich’s name, according to local property records. The government can more easily and quickly seize assets that are under the official ownership of a sanctioned individual, since they don’t have to go through legal procedures to determine ownership.

Most U.S. real-estate owned by Russian billionaires and oligarchs is held through anonymous shell companies or LLCs to hide their true ownership. Many oligarchs also transferred their U.S. properties in recent years to relatives or associates. Oleg Deripaska has transferred his U.S. real estate, including two townhouses in Manhattan and a home in Washington, D.C., to relatives. Abramovich transferred ownership of three Manhattan townhouses to his ex-wife Dasha Zhukova in 2018.

Abramovich has been sanctioned in the U.K. and Canada but not in the European Union or the U.S. The White House is currently weighing whether to include Abramovich in its next round of sanctions, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Abramovich’s spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment. A Denver attorney, Brad Schacht, who represented Abramovich in a lawsuit against Comcast Cable stemming from a fiber-optic project on the property, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The threat of a Justice Department seizure has already sparked widespread speculation and intrigue in Aspen, a small town with outsized wealth and super-sized homes. Wal-Mart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke, L Brands founder Leslie Wexner, food-and-beverage…