Bill Browder
Author of Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
About the Author
William Felix "Bill" Browder (born 23 April 1964) received a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Stanford Business School. He was vice president at Salomon Brothers before becoming the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, which was the largest foreign investor show more in Russia until 2005. Since his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials in 2009, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia's endemic corruption and human rights abuses. His first book, Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, was published in 2015 and became listed on the New York Times bestseller list that same year. Also in the same year his title Red Notice: How I Became Putin's No. 1 Enemy made The New Zealand Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Works by Bill Browder
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice (2015) 1,912 copies, 59 reviews
Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath (2022) 532 copies, 14 reviews
Orden de embargo. Una historia real de blanqueo de dinero, asesinatos y resistencia frente a Vladímir Putin (2022) 5 copies
Ordem de Bloqueio - Uma historia real sobre corrupcao e assassinato na Russia de Putin (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2019) 3 copies
Sfida allo Zar. Come ho smascherato Putin e colpito gli affari sporchi dei suoi oligarchi (2022) 2 copies
Dinheiro Sujo 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Browder, William Felix
- Birthdate
- 1964-04-23
- Gender
- male
- Education
- University of Colorado, Boulder (transferred)
University of Chicago (BA, Economics)
Stanford Graduate School of Business (MBA) - Occupations
- financier
investor
human rights advocate
writer - Awards and honors
- Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George
- Agent
- PEW Literary Agency
- Short biography
- [excerpted from Magnitsky Awards website]
Sir William Browder KCMG is a British human-rights champion, anti-corruption campaigner, and the driving force behind the global Magnitsky justice movement. Born in the United States and later settling in the United Kingdom, he began his career as an investor, co-founding Hermitage Capital Management in the 1990s and becoming one of the largest foreign investors in Russia.
Browder's life changed irrevocably after the arrest, torture, and death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered a massive tax-fraud scheme implicating Russian officials. Magnitsky's killing transformed Browder from financier to full-time human-rights advocate. He launched an unprecedented global campaign to hold human-rights abusers and kleptocrats accountable, urging governments to deny them safe haven for their money and freedom of movement. His efforts led to the passage of the U.S. Magnitsky Act in 2012 – allowing targeted sanctions against individuals responsible for corruption and human-rights violations.
In 2024, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for services to human rights, anti-corruption, and international affairs. - Nationality
- USA
UK (naturalized) - Birthplace
- Princeton, New Jersey, USA
- Places of residence
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
Russia
England, UK
Members
Reviews
I was skeptical when this book was chosen for my book group. Subtitled, “A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice,” this is not my usual genre. So I was surprised when I found myself caught up in a fast-paced thriller that was hard to put down. Browder left Wall Street for Russia just after the fall of the Soviet Union. He was young, brash, savvy, and in the right place at the right time, taking advantage of Russian economic conditions to create an show more enormously successful hedge fund. But after exposing Russian corruption, Browder found himself on the wrong side of the government, up to and including Vladimir Putin. As the situation escalated, a member of Browder’s team was arrested and ultimately murdered. Shaken to the core, Browder redirected his personal energy towards relentless pursuit of justice.
The workings of Putin’s regime are legendary and yet also masked by confusing intrigue. Red Notice makes it clear that what occasionally appears in the news is not just the stuff of legend, but something very real. And while Browder doesn’t seem like the kind of guy I’d like to hang out with in real life (too much raw ambition), I couldn’t help but admire the ways he used his power and reputation to investigate the Russian government, gain access to US and UK government decision-makers, and work the diplomatic and legal systems to achieve his goals. But at the same time, he lives in a constant state of danger and takes countermeasures to ensure his own security, including publishing this book. As he wrote, “If I’m killed, you will know who did it.” While that statement took my breath away, it also gave me a new respect for those who risk their lives to fight wrongdoing. show less
The workings of Putin’s regime are legendary and yet also masked by confusing intrigue. Red Notice makes it clear that what occasionally appears in the news is not just the stuff of legend, but something very real. And while Browder doesn’t seem like the kind of guy I’d like to hang out with in real life (too much raw ambition), I couldn’t help but admire the ways he used his power and reputation to investigate the Russian government, gain access to US and UK government decision-makers, and work the diplomatic and legal systems to achieve his goals. But at the same time, he lives in a constant state of danger and takes countermeasures to ensure his own security, including publishing this book. As he wrote, “If I’m killed, you will know who did it.” While that statement took my breath away, it also gave me a new respect for those who risk their lives to fight wrongdoing. show less
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3368348.html
This is an impressive first-person account of one businessman who was ruthlessly targeted by the Kremlin for trying to operate freely in Russia. Browder managed to make a lot of money in Eastern Europe in the wild days immediately after the fall of Communism, but ran foul of the Russian authorities, who used the full force of bad law to strip his assets (of which he had a lot) and, much worse, arrested Browder's legal adviser Sergei Magnitsky, who show more then died as a result of his mistreatment in jail. Browder's is not the only such story, but it is very well told, and he has vindicated Magnitsky's memory by getting legislation passed in various jurisdictions allowing direct sanctions against those who have abused human rights. One or two people who I know personally show up in the narrative (in a good way!) which is always interesting too. Recommended. show less
This is an impressive first-person account of one businessman who was ruthlessly targeted by the Kremlin for trying to operate freely in Russia. Browder managed to make a lot of money in Eastern Europe in the wild days immediately after the fall of Communism, but ran foul of the Russian authorities, who used the full force of bad law to strip his assets (of which he had a lot) and, much worse, arrested Browder's legal adviser Sergei Magnitsky, who show more then died as a result of his mistreatment in jail. Browder's is not the only such story, but it is very well told, and he has vindicated Magnitsky's memory by getting legislation passed in various jurisdictions allowing direct sanctions against those who have abused human rights. One or two people who I know personally show up in the narrative (in a good way!) which is always interesting too. Recommended. show less
Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath by Bill Browder
Rating: 4.5* of five
The Publisher Says: Following his explosive New York Times bestseller Red Notice, Bill Browder returns with another gripping thriller chronicling how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way.
When Bill Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail, Browder made it his life’s mission to go after his show more killers and make sure they faced justice. The first step of that mission was to uncover who was behind the $230 million tax refund scheme that Magnitsky was killed over. As Browder and his team tracked the money as it flowed out of Russia through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas, they were shocked to discover that Vladimir Putin himself was a beneficiary of the crime.
As law enforcement agencies began freezing the money, Putin retaliated. He and his cronies set up honey traps, hired process servers to chase Browder through cities, murdered more of his Russian allies, and enlisted some of the top lawyers and politicians in America to bring him down. Putin will stop at nothing to protect his money. As Freezing Order reveals, it was Browder’s campaign to expose Putin’s corruption that prompted Russia’s intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.
At once a financial caper, an international adventure, and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most ruthless villains in the world—and win.
I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF MY LOCAL LIBRARY. USE THEIR SERVICES! WE NEED THEM AND THEY NEED US TO SURVIVE.
My Review: In the pantheon of moral crusaders, Bill Browder's the least likely figure I've found to date. He's on a personal and quixotic quest to shut down Putin's money-laundering pipeline to the Western banks who are hiding (it transpires as a result of investigations tied to Browder's own) about a trillion dollars...that is $1 000 000 000 000...for him and his kleptocratic cronies.
And you wonder why the Ukrainian war is still going on...what better way to distract the West and provide his own people with a Cause, Russianness or Russification call it what you will, to rally behind him to fight!
There are laws in numerous Western countries, called collectively "Magnitsky laws," that trace their passage to Browder's jihad against Putin for the crime of ordering the death (in a very nasty way) of Russian clean-government activist and Browder's Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. These financial-crimes laws empower governments to freeze assets owned by people or entities not based in the country doing the freezing's legal jurisdiction.
You can see this would cause someone with a trillion...a trillion!...stolen dollars some little anxiety. It's led to many murders and attempted murders. It's been clearly documented (the book has astoundingly detailed source material citations). It's led to many acts of cybercrime and harassment (see review below) against those trying to stop the actual stealing and killing.
In the end, I am not so much glad that I read this book as I am grateful to it, and to Author Browder, for showing me that people who live in a principled way and advertise their intentions clearly can, and do, effect change for the better.
But honestly, I can not remember a time I've been this furious for this long at the existence and the power wielded by Putin supporters and apologists. show less
The Publisher Says: Following his explosive New York Times bestseller Red Notice, Bill Browder returns with another gripping thriller chronicling how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way.
When Bill Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail, Browder made it his life’s mission to go after his show more killers and make sure they faced justice. The first step of that mission was to uncover who was behind the $230 million tax refund scheme that Magnitsky was killed over. As Browder and his team tracked the money as it flowed out of Russia through the Baltics and Cyprus and on to Western Europe and the Americas, they were shocked to discover that Vladimir Putin himself was a beneficiary of the crime.
As law enforcement agencies began freezing the money, Putin retaliated. He and his cronies set up honey traps, hired process servers to chase Browder through cities, murdered more of his Russian allies, and enlisted some of the top lawyers and politicians in America to bring him down. Putin will stop at nothing to protect his money. As Freezing Order reveals, it was Browder’s campaign to expose Putin’s corruption that prompted Russia’s intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.
At once a financial caper, an international adventure, and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most ruthless villains in the world—and win.
I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF MY LOCAL LIBRARY. USE THEIR SERVICES! WE NEED THEM AND THEY NEED US TO SURVIVE.
My Review: In the pantheon of moral crusaders, Bill Browder's the least likely figure I've found to date. He's on a personal and quixotic quest to shut down Putin's money-laundering pipeline to the Western banks who are hiding (it transpires as a result of investigations tied to Browder's own) about a trillion dollars...that is $1 000 000 000 000...for him and his kleptocratic cronies.
And you wonder why the Ukrainian war is still going on...what better way to distract the West and provide his own people with a Cause, Russianness or Russification call it what you will, to rally behind him to fight!
There are laws in numerous Western countries, called collectively "Magnitsky laws," that trace their passage to Browder's jihad against Putin for the crime of ordering the death (in a very nasty way) of Russian clean-government activist and Browder's Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. These financial-crimes laws empower governments to freeze assets owned by people or entities not based in the country doing the freezing's legal jurisdiction.
You can see this would cause someone with a trillion...a trillion!...stolen dollars some little anxiety. It's led to many murders and attempted murders. It's been clearly documented (the book has astoundingly detailed source material citations). It's led to many acts of cybercrime and harassment (see review below) against those trying to stop the actual stealing and killing.
In the end, I am not so much glad that I read this book as I am grateful to it, and to Author Browder, for showing me that people who live in a principled way and advertise their intentions clearly can, and do, effect change for the better.
But honestly, I can not remember a time I've been this furious for this long at the existence and the power wielded by Putin supporters and apologists. show less
Bill Browder, grandson of the former head of the American Communist Party, and son of a prominent mathematician, as a teenager cast around for ways to rebel against his family. It took him a while to conclude that the obvious way was to become a capitalist, and a little bit longer to realize he had to put his considerable brains to work learning what he needed to know to do that. Once he did that, though, he overcame the obstacles he'd created for himself, and, in due course, wound up, by show more now a British citizen, the most successful foreign investor in Russia.
Then he started asking awkward questions about seemingly undervalued Russian companies, and what was really going on with them.
He didn't set out to be the most effective shareholder rights activist in Russia, or attempting to combat Russian government corruption. It was through this campaign that he came to meet Sergio Magnitsky, a name most people now know, if they do, from Magnitsky Act, first passed in the US as Browder got an unwanted education in politics in his pursuit of justice for Magnitsky, who was murdered in a Russian prison, and subsequently in other countries, as well as the European Union.
Sergio Magnitsky was a tax lawyer, who in doing some work for Browder and his partners, discovered some serious government corruption. Browder, in surprising naivete, didn't realize that he had gone from being useful to Putin, to being a problem for him. Magnitsky was arrested, and told he would have to lie about what he'd found, and blame Browder. (This is the very condensed version. Listen to Browder's story.
Magnitsky is tortured and murdered in prison. and Browder sets out on a campaign for justice for Magnitsky and his family. It's an unpleasant education in politics, often terrifying because of course Putin has no hesitation about killing people even after they're outside of Russia, and incredibly stressful for him, his family, his partners, and his friends.
And yet, the Magnitsky Act is passed in multiple countries, creating real consequences for powerful and corrupt Russian oligarchs who are not used to facing real consequences for anything.
This is a fascinating and moving story. Browder includes his early career and how he became focused on working in Russia and making a positive difference there, and that gives a context and frame to how a dedicated capitalist wanting to make money became a crusader for human rights and good corporate governance in Russia.
Note that, having been published in 2015, it doesn't include events since then.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook. show less
Then he started asking awkward questions about seemingly undervalued Russian companies, and what was really going on with them.
He didn't set out to be the most effective shareholder rights activist in Russia, or attempting to combat Russian government corruption. It was through this campaign that he came to meet Sergio Magnitsky, a name most people now know, if they do, from Magnitsky Act, first passed in the US as Browder got an unwanted education in politics in his pursuit of justice for Magnitsky, who was murdered in a Russian prison, and subsequently in other countries, as well as the European Union.
Sergio Magnitsky was a tax lawyer, who in doing some work for Browder and his partners, discovered some serious government corruption. Browder, in surprising naivete, didn't realize that he had gone from being useful to Putin, to being a problem for him. Magnitsky was arrested, and told he would have to lie about what he'd found, and blame Browder. (This is the very condensed version. Listen to Browder's story.
Magnitsky is tortured and murdered in prison. and Browder sets out on a campaign for justice for Magnitsky and his family. It's an unpleasant education in politics, often terrifying because of course Putin has no hesitation about killing people even after they're outside of Russia, and incredibly stressful for him, his family, his partners, and his friends.
And yet, the Magnitsky Act is passed in multiple countries, creating real consequences for powerful and corrupt Russian oligarchs who are not used to facing real consequences for anything.
This is a fascinating and moving story. Browder includes his early career and how he became focused on working in Russia and making a positive difference there, and that gives a context and frame to how a dedicated capitalist wanting to make money became a crusader for human rights and good corporate governance in Russia.
Note that, having been published in 2015, it doesn't include events since then.
Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 12
- Members
- 2,463
- Popularity
- #10,404
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 74
- ISBNs
- 69
- Languages
- 13
