Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice (50 page)

Kristiina then disappeared to introduce the resolution. We spotted her in her purple dress among the beehive of parliamentarians below. She stood and began her speech. Like many other speeches I’d heard before, she went through Sergei’s story and the Russian government’s cover-up, but then she did something unexpected. She pointed toward us and said, “Mr. President, we have with us in the visitors’ gallery today the late Sergei Magnitsky’s wife, together with his son and his former boss, Mr. Bill Browder. I am pleased to welcome our guests.”

Then completely unexpectedly, the entire chamber of seven-hundred-odd parliamentarians stood, turned toward us, and erupted in applause. Not polite applause, but real, thunderous applause, which carried on for nearly a minute. I felt a lump in my throat and goose bumps on my arms as I watched tears welling up in Natasha’s eyes.

The vote went through and there wasn’t a single objection in the entire European Parliament. Not one.

Early in this book, I said that the feeling I got from buying a Polish stock that went up ten times was the best thing to ever happen to me in my career. But the feeling I had on that balcony in Brussels
with Sergei’s widow and son, as we watched the largest lawmaking body in Europe recognize and condemn the injustices suffered by Sergei and his family, felt orders of magnitude better than any financial success I’ve ever had. If finding a ten bagger in the stock market was a highlight of my life before, there is no feeling as satisfying as getting some measure of justice in a highly unjust world.

1
 Member of the European Parliament.

My opponents have engaged in a lot of crazy speculation regarding how I’ve managed to achieve some measure of justice for Sergei Magnitsky. The Russian government has alternately accused me of being a CIA agent, an MI6 spy, a billionaire who has bribed every member of Congress and the European Parliament, and part of a Zionist conspiracy to take over the world. Of course, the truth is much simpler. The reason why this campaign has worked is because anyone with a heart who has heard about Sergei’s ordeal has wanted to help.

A number of people have done so publicly, and writing this book has given me the opportunity to acknowledge many of them. But for every person named in these pages, there are countless others who have gone unnamed but whose tireless work behind the scenes has been crucial to the success of this campaign. I was hoping to use this section as an opportunity to thank all of these people. However, I’ve decided that I do not want to risk exposing anyone else to the intimidation, harassment, and threats from Russia that follow those who publicly support the Magnitsky cause. The time to acknowledge all of those who have contributed will come, but only when the threat of retaliation from Russian organized crime and the Putin regime subsides.

So for now, to every one of you who has given their time and energy to the campaign, I hope you all know how grateful I am for your support. To all the politicians in the United States, Canada, and across Europe; to the men and women at the European Parliament, PACE, and OSCE; to all the lawyers who joined me in this fight for
justice, often working pro bono; to the journalists who worked courageously and tirelessly to get the truth out; to the NGOs and individuals from around the world who pushed their governments to act; to the brave Russian activists who continue to risk their lives to fight for the betterment of their country; to my friends and colleagues, whose support has helped me over the years; and to anyone who has been moved by the Magnitsky story and expressed your care in any way you could, please know that I cannot express just how much I cherish the contributions you have made and the hard work you have done. All of it has mattered and has made a difference. None of what this campaign has been able to achieve would have been possible without you.

Finally, and most importantly, I need to thank the true heroes of this story—the Magnitsky family. It was tragedy that brought us together, and while I would give anything to undo what happened to Sergei, I am grateful for your friendship. Your bravery and determination in the face of unspeakable grief is awe-inspiring, and I know that Sergei would be proud of each one of you.

© PETER LINDBERGH, PARIS, 2014

Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009, when his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses. Before founding Hermitage, Browder was a vice president at Salomon Brothers. He holds a BA in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Stanford Business School.

MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT

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authors.simonandschuster.com/Bill-Browder

A note about the index:
The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

Abdallah, Ken,
80
,
81
,
82

Abu Ghraib,
359

adoption ban law,
357
–62

Aeroflot,
1
,
56
,
368

Afghanistan,
356

Air France,
152

al-Assad, Bashar,
357

Alexeyeva, Lyudmila,
376

Alisov, Igor,
365
,
369
–70

Alitalia,
243

American Chamber of Commerce, Moscow,
144
,
145

American Communist Party,
12
–14,
26

American Express,
59

Amnesty International,
292

Amsterdam,
371

Anichin, Alexei,
314

Animal House
(film),
18

Anselmini, Jean-Pierre,
41

AP,
182

“The Armed Forces of Corporate Governance Abuse,”
144
–45

Armenia,
7
,
260

Arthur Andersen,
51

Asea Brown Boveri,
92

Ashcroft, John,
306
–7

Asian economic crisis (1997),
131
–32

asset freezes and visa sanctions,
291
,
293
–94,
297
,
298
,
299
–309,
327
–29,
368
,
373
,
377

asset stripping,
144
,
158
–60,
165

Austria,
14
,
312

Autosan,
30
–39,
57

Azerbaijan,
7

Bahamas,
70

Bain & Company,
19
–20,
24

Bangkok,
211

Bannister, Clive,
170

Barnevik, Percy,
92

Baucus, Max,
336

BBC,
50

Beck, Steven,
221
,
274
,
317
,
364

beef importers,
334
,
336

Beijing,
211

Belarus,
279

Belton, Catherine,
188
,
203

Berezovsky, Boris,
91

Berlin Wall, fall of,
27
,
29
–30

billionaire psychology,
83

Blair, Tony,
186
–89

Blokhin, Vasili Mikhailovich,
279
–80

Bloomberg,
126
,
187
,
194

Boeing,
334
,
336

bonds,
132

1998 financial crisis and aftermath,
131
–38

Russian market,
132
–38

bonuses,
47
–48

Borschev, Valery,
287
,
376

Boston Consulting Group,
19
,
24
–25,
41
,
155

Browder and,
26
–41,
155

Eastern European operations,
26
–41

in London,
25
,
26
–27

Bouzada, Ariel,
121

Bowers, Chris,
5
–6,
7
,
9

Bowring, Bill,
170
,
173

Brandeis University,
14

Brazil,
191

Brenton, Tony,
172
–73,
174
,
176
,
178

Brezhnev, Leonid,
117

British Airways,
56
,
180
,
270

British Petroleum,
112
,
113
,
116
,
125
,
154

Brose, Chris,
307
–9

Browder, Bill

anti-corruption campaigns against oligarchs,
115
–30,
144
–48,
154
–69,
181
,
192
–93

banned from Russia,
11
–13,
169
,
170
–89,
193

begins Hermitage Fund,
76
,
77
–86,
88
,
95
–103

birth of,
15

bodyguards of,
127

at Boston Consulting Group,
26
–41,
155

British citizenship of,
10

Cardin List and,
298
–309

childhood of,
15
–17

communist background of,
12
–14,
26
,
27

congressional testimony on Magnitsky case,
302
–5

at Davos,
88
–93

death of Magnitsky and,
276
–78,
280
–88,
327
,
372
–73,
376

detained at Sheremetyevo Airport,
2
–11,
169
–70

Elena and,
3
–11,
145
–54,
161
–64,
170
,
174
–75,
187
,
192
–96,
209
,
225
,
269
–70,
276
–77,
282
,
299
,
341
,
350
–51,
355
,
367

as a father,
1
,
3
,
8
,
114
,
174
–75,
206
–9,
272
,
299
,
316
,
341
–42,
344
,
374

Gazprom theft and investigation,
154
–62,
192
–93

Hermitage lawyers as targets,
237
–53,
254
–68,
360

Interpol Red Notice for,
367
–70,
374

investigation into stolen companies,
201
–35,
252
–53,
271
–72

Karpov’s libel suit against,
344
–45,
374

loses Russian visa,
170
–89,
193
–96

Magnitsky Act and,
305
–9,
327
–39,
340
–50

Magnitsky case,
see
Magnitsky case

at Maxwell Communications Corporation,
41
–51

1998 financial crisis and aftermath,
131
–46

in Poland,
27
–39

police raids on Hermitage offices,
196
–200,
203
,
208
–10,
216
,
228
,
230

Potanin vs.,
115
–30,
134
–35

Putin and,
166
–69,
175
–77,
183
–89,
236
,
360
–70,
375

Russian criminal cases against,
189
,
190
–200,
201
–35,
236
–53,
270
–72,
323
,
343
–45,
360
,
364
–70

Russian raider attack,
213
–27

Sabrina and,
84
–86,
94
–95,
102
,
114
,
117
,
123
,
134
–37,
139
–41,
174

at Salomon Brothers,
52
–76,
77