A valuable violin considered culturally significant, with an estimated worth of £150,000, along with £1.3 million in cash, has been donated to charity following its confiscation from organizations established by a businessman sanctioned by the government.
The Charity Commission, the regulating body, retrieved the prestigious violin crafted by renowned Italian violin maker Riccardo Antoniazzi in 1912, and a sum of £1,388,000 after Dr. Vitacheslav Kantor, also known as Moshe, a Russian-born entrepreneur, was identified as a “designated person” under the UK’s Russia Sanctions regime in April 2022. Originally appraised at £150,810 in 2019, the violin has now been presented to a registered charitable organization.
Dr. Kantor, a billionaire aged 72, founded and financed both the Kantor Foundation and Kantor Charitable Foundation to offer grants for charitable initiatives. However, these foundations have been dissolved subsequent to the investigation.
Joshua Farbridge, the Head of compliance and visits and inspections at the Charity Commission, remarked, “Once designated, an individual is prohibited from serving as a trustee. Dr. Kantor’s failure to promptly step down, disregard for the Commission’s directives, and lack of cooperation constituted misconduct and/or mismanagement, falling short of trustee expectations. Consequently, both charities have been closed following our inquiries.”
In a positive turn, the intervention has allowed for over £1.3 million to be injected into the charitable sector and the significant musical instrument to be gifted to a charity advancing musical education.
This development transpired after the Charity Commission initiated investigations into Dr. Kantor-affiliated charities, namely the Kantor Charitable Foundation (KCF), Kantor Foundation (KF), and the World Holocaust Forum Foundation (WHFF). The regulator froze the charities’ bank accounts and prohibited the trustee from disposing of any charity assets without prior approval.
Subsequently, in May 2022, the regulator ousted Dr. Kantor as a trustee of WHFF, leading to his automatic disqualification from trusteeship and cessation of directorship at Kantor Trustees. Interim Managers were appointed to oversee both charities, and unresolved Gift Aid claims were identified.
Following the settlement of the charities’ debts, the Interim Managers allocated the remaining funds through charitable grants to various organizations in alignment with the charities’ missions. In June 2023, the Charity Commission concluded that the Kantor Foundation and Kantor Charitable Foundation were no longer viable and should be wound up and dissolved.
Expert evaluations indicated that Dr. Kantor was the sole benefactor, making it improbable for the charities to secure future funding. Additionally, the absence of trustees post-Dr. Kantor’s designation and the resignation of other directors from Kantor Trustees hindered the charities’ operations.
Considering the reputational harm stemming from the designation, it was deemed unlikely that fundraising or recruitment efforts could resolve the charities’ predicament.
The Charity Commission’s investigation revealed Dr. Kantor’s accountability for mismanagement in administering both charities due to his failure to proactively resign post-designation and lack of cooperation during the probe. Consequently, both charities were wound up and delisted from the Register of Charities.
