A valuable violin considered culturally significant, with a worth of £150,000 and £1.3 million in cash, has been donated to charity after being confiscated from organizations established by a businessman sanctioned by the government.
The Charity Commission, the regulatory body, retrieved the esteemed violin crafted by Riccardo Antoniazzi in 1912 and a sum of £1,388,000 following the designation of Russian-born entrepreneur Dr. Vitacheslav Kantor, also known as Moshe, as a “designated person” under the UK’s Russia Sanctions regime in April 2022. The violin, initially valued at £150,810 in 2019, has been gifted to an officially registered charity.
The billionaire philanthropist, Dr. Kantor, aged 72, founded and financially supported both the Kantor Foundation and Kantor Charitable Foundation to offer grants for charitable initiatives. However, these foundations were dissolved subsequent to the investigation.
According to Joshua Farbridge, the Head of compliance and visits and inspections at the Charity Commission, Dr. Kantor’s failure to step down promptly, disregard of the Commission’s directives, and lack of cooperation constituted misconduct and mismanagement. Consequently, both charities were shut down following the investigations.
The Charity Commission initiated inquiries into organizations linked to Dr. Kantor, including the Kantor Charitable Foundation (KCF), Kantor Foundation (KF), and the World Holocaust Forum Foundation (WHFF). The regulator froze the charities’ bank accounts and restricted the trustee from disposing of any assets without prior approval.
In May 2022, the regulator removed Dr. Kantor as a trustee of WHFF, leading to his automatic disqualification as a trustee and cessation as a director of Kantor Trustees. Interim Managers were appointed to oversee both charities, and pending Gift Aid claims were identified.
After resolving the charities’ obligations, the Interim Managers allocated the remaining funds through charitable grants to various organizations in alignment with the charities’ objectives. In June 2023, the regulator concluded that the Kantor Foundation and Kantor Charitable Foundation were no longer feasible and should be dissolved as they were solely reliant on Dr. Kantor’s contributions, lacked trustees, and faced reputational challenges.
The Charity Commission determined that Dr. Kantor was accountable for mismanagement within both charities due to his actions following the sanctions designation. The charities have since been wound up and removed from the public Register of Charities.