Episode 33
Bill Browder | The Fall of Glasnost: A Story of Murder and Corruption in Putin’s Russia
Episode 33
Bill Browder
Bill Browder | The Fall of Glasnost: A Story of Murder and Corruption in Putin’s Russia
summary
This is the story of Bill Browder and the end of glasnost. It stands as a microcosm of how the USSR attempted and failed, to reform itself. However, in order to truly tell the tale, we must begin with another man: Mikhail Gorbachev.
Mikhail Gorbachev came to the stage at the end of the 1980s with a policy of glasnost, which can best be translated and explained in English as “openness.” Practically speaking, the policy was focused on ending the nation’s endemic corruption by making the government transparent. Or at least, by making the government a little more transparent. Gorbachev hoped that such a policy would thwart the schemes of the bureaucrats who enjoyed complete control of the economy and redistribute power more evenly. Unlike his predecessors, Gorbachev also had a far stronger focus on noninterference.
Ultimately, these policies led to the thawing of the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the decline of the role of the Communist Party in government. These are also the policies that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As a result, saying that Gorbachev changed politics in Russia would be a dramatic understatement. By the time he left office, he’d revolutionized global power dynamics.
However, the promises of openness and noninterference quickly died in the Russia state and reform was never realized. Instead, Gorbachev’s destabilization of previously entrenched power structures quickly led to the traumatic redistribution of wealth into the hands of a tiny kleptocracy.
This is where Bill Browder enters the story, and where the tale of the plundering of Russian industries and resources truly begins.
Bill Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, which was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. That year, he was refused entry into the country and had $4.5bn in assets liquidated. The reason? According to Browder, the government was attempting to punish him for exposing corrupt practices.
Then, in 2009, his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, died in prison after he uncovered a $230 million fraud committed by officials in the Russian government. That is was when Bill Browder went to war.
Over the last decade, he has been leading a campaign to expose, and ultimately end Russia’s endemic corruption and excessive human rights abuses. His work led to the passage of the “Magnitsky Act” in the United States and, since that time, many countries have passed similar legislation. The work also made him an enemy of Vladimir Putin and the Russian state, which has issued several warrants and placed him on Interpol’s arrest list.
Today, Bill Browder joins host Demetri Kofinas to tell his story and discuss what his tale—a story of high finance, corruption, and murder—portends for the future of this powerful nation.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Bill Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, which was the investment adviser to the largest foreign investment fund in Russia until 2005, when Bill was denied entry to the country and declared a “threat to national security” as a result of his battle against corporate corruption.
Following his expulsion, the Russian authorities raided his offices, seized Hermitage Fund’s investment companies and used them to steal $230 million of taxes that the companies had previously paid. When Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, investigated the crime, he was arrested by the same officers he implicated, tortured for 358 days, and killed in custody at the age of 37 in November 2009.
Since then, Browder has spent the last 5 years fighting for justice for Mr. Magnitsky. The Russian government exonerated and even promoted some of the officials involved so Browder took the case to America, where his campaigning led to the US Congress adopting the ‘Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act’ in 2012, which imposed visa sanctions and asset freezes on those involved in the detention, ill-treatment and death of Sergei Magnitsky (as well as in other human rights abuses). This law was the first time the US sanctioned Russia in 35 years and became the model for all subsequent US sanctions against Russia. Browder is currently working to have similar legislation passed in Magnitsky’s name across the European Union.
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Sed in rebus apertissimis nimium longi sumus. In quo etsi est magnus, tamen nova pleraque et perpauca de moribus. Hoc etsi multimodis reprehendi potest, tamen accipio, quod dant. Certe nihil nisi quod possit ipsum propter se iure laudari. At hoc in eo M. Eademne, quae restincta siti?
Illum mallem levares, quo optimum atque humanissimum virum, Cn. Certe, nisi voluptatem tanti aestimaretis. Dicet pro me ipsa virtus nec dubitabit isti vestro beato M. Ergo omni animali illud, quod appetiti positum est in eo, quod naturae est accommodatum. Illa sunt similia: hebes acies est cuipiam oculorum, corpore alius senescit; Gloriosa ostentatio in constituendo summo bono.
Sed haec nihil sane ad rem; Illum mallem levares, quo optimum atque humanissimum virum, Cn. Videmus in quodam volucrium genere non nulla indicia pietatis, cognitionem, memoriam, in multis etiam desideria videmus. Dat enim intervalla et relaxat. Quaero igitur, quo modo hae tantae commendationes a natura profectae subito a sapientia relictae sint. Dicimus aliquem hilare vivere; Quod dicit Epicurus etiam de voluptate, quae minime sint voluptates, eas obscurari saepe et obrui. Itaque haec cum illis est dissensio, cum Peripateticis nulla sane. Diodorus, eius auditor, adiungit ad honestatem vacuitatem doloris. Quamquam ab iis philosophiam et omnes ingenuas disciplinas habemus;
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ad eas enim res ab Epicuro praecepta dantur. Facile pateremur, qui etiam nunc agendi aliquid discendique causa prope contra naturam vígillas suscipere soleamus. Erat enim Polemonis. Nam diligi et carum esse iucundum est propterea, quia tutiorem vitam et voluptatem pleniorem efficit. Neque enim civitas in seditione beata esse potest nec in discordia dominorum domus; Qui enim voluptatem ipsam contemnunt, iis licet dicere se acupenserem maenae non anteponere. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Cuius ad naturam apta ratio vera illa et summa lex a philosophis dicitur. At certe gravius. Nihil ad rem! Ne sit sane; Haec et tu ita posuisti, et verba vestra sunt.
Pauca mutat vel plura sane; Audax negotium, dicerem impudens, nisi hoc institutum postea translatum ad philosophos nostros esset. Si enim ita est, vide ne facinus facias, cum mori suadeas. Tum ille timide vel potius verecunde: Facio, inquit. Quod praeceptum quia maius erat, quam ut ab homine videretur, idcirco assignatum est deo. An vero displicuit ea, quae tributa est animi virtutibus tanta praestantia? Nam Pyrrho, Aristo, Erillus iam diu abiecti. Non est ista, inquam, Piso, magna dissensio. Frater et T. Si quicquam extra virtutem habeatur in bonis. Modo etiam paulum ad dexteram de via declinavi, ut ad Pericli sepulcrum accederem.
Ergo instituto veterum, quo etiam Stoici utuntur, hinc capiamus exordium. Atqui iste locus est, Piso, tibi etiam atque etiam confirmandus, inquam; Hoc dictum in una re latissime patet, ut in omnibus factis re, non teste moveamur. Ne tum quidem te respicies et cogitabis sibi quemque natum esse et suis voluptatibus? Scisse enim te quis coarguere possit? Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico.
Nec vero sum nescius esse utilitatem in historia, non modo voluptatem. Atqui iste locus est, Piso, tibi etiam atque etiam confirmandus, inquam; Immo videri fortasse.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Non quaero, quid dicat, sed quid convenienter possit rationi et sententiae suae dicere. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Ergo ita: non posse honeste vivi, nisi honeste vivatur? Non est enim vitium in oratione solum, sed etiam in moribus.
Est enim effectrix multarum et magnarum voluptatum. Huic mori optimum esse propter desperationem sapientiae, illi propter spem vivere. Ita relinquet duas, de quibus etiam atque etiam consideret. Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Sumenda potius quam expetenda. Multa sunt dicta ab antiquis de contemnendis ac despiciendis rebus humanis; Tu autem negas fortem esse quemquam posse, qui dolorem malum putet. Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam. Solum praeterea formosum, solum liberum, solum civem, stultost;
Aeque enim contingit omnibus fidibus, ut incontentae sint. Tu autem negas fortem esse quemquam posse, qui dolorem malum putet. Sed erat aequius Triarium aliquid de dissensione nostra iudicare. Sin autem est in ea, quod quidam volunt, nihil impedit hanc nostram comprehensionem summi boni. Sed hoc sane concedamus. Satisne vobis videor pro meo iure in vestris auribus commentatus? Quam tu ponis in verbis, ego positam in re putabam. Cum autem in quo sapienter dicimus, id a primo rectissime dicitur.
Sed haec quidem liberius ab eo dicuntur et saepius. Omnes enim iucundum motum, quo sensus hilaretur. Quarum ambarum rerum cum medicinam pollicetur, luxuriae licentiam pollicetur. Quare attende, quaeso. Ita fit cum gravior, tum etiam splendidior oratio. Et quidem iure fortasse, sed tamen non gravissimum est testimonium multitudinis. Nam memini etiam quae nolo, oblivisci non possum quae volo. Itaque nostrum est-quod nostrum dico, artis est-ad ea principia, quae accepimus.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Et quidem saepe quaerimus verbum Latinum par Graeco et quod idem valeat; Quid affers, cur Thorius, cur Caius Postumius, cur omnium horum magister, Orata, non iucundissime vixerit? Hoc dixerit potius Ennius: Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali. Etiam beatissimum? Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est? Aut haec tibi, Torquate, sunt vituperanda aut patrocinium voluptatis repudiandum. Duo Reges: constructio interrete.
Quo modo autem philosophus loquitur? Similiter sensus, cum accessit ad naturam, tuetur illam quidem, sed etiam se tuetur; At iste non dolendi status non vocatur voluptas. Praeclarae mortes sunt imperatoriae; Proclivi currit oratio. Idem iste, inquam, de voluptate quid sentit? Sin kakan malitiam dixisses, ad aliud nos unum certum vitium consuetudo Latina traduceret. Modo etiam paulum ad dexteram de via declinavi, ut ad Pericli sepulcrum accederem.
Quae contraria sunt his, malane? Consequens enim est et post oritur, ut dixi. Tu autem, si tibi illa probabantur, cur non propriis verbis ea tenebas? Laelius clamores sofòw ille so lebat Edere compellans gumias ex ordine nostros. Sed residamus, inquit, si placet. Egone non intellego, quid sit don Graece, Latine voluptas? Sed ego in hoc resisto;
Ergo in gubernando nihil, in officio plurimum interest, quo in genere peccetur. Tanta vis admonitionis inest in locis; Et quidem, inquit, vehementer errat; Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam. Longum est enim ad omnia respondere, quae a te dicta sunt.