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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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quae cum ita sint, effectum est nihil esse malum, quod turpe non sit. Quos quidem tibi studiose et diligenter tractandos magnopere censeo. Simus igitur contenti his. Si longus, levis dictata sunt. Naturales divitias dixit parabiles esse, quod parvo esset natura contenta. In motu et in statu corporis nihil inest, quod animadvertendum esse ipsa natura iudicet? Cur igitur, cum de re conveniat, non malumus usitate loqui? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Progredientibus autem aetatibus sensim tardeve potius quasi nosmet ipsos cognoscimus. Virtutibus igitur rectissime mihi videris et ad consuetudinem nostrae orationis vitia posuisse contraria. Tecum optime, deinde etiam cum mediocri amico.
Cave putes quicquam esse verius. Omnes enim iucundum motum, quo sensus hilaretur. Itaque sensibus rationem adiunxit et ratione effecta sensus non reliquit. Tria genera bonorum; Quae cum ita sint, effectum est nihil esse malum, quod turpe non sit. Quid de Platone aut de Democrito loquar?
Aliis esse maiora, illud dubium, ad id, quod summum bonum dicitis, ecquaenam possit fieri accessio. At miser, si in flagitiosa et vitiosa vita afflueret voluptatibus. Nam quid possumus facere melius? Atqui, inquit, si Stoicis concedis ut virtus sola, si adsit vitam efficiat beatam, concedis etiam Peripateticis. Nam aliquando posse recte fieri dicunt nulla expectata nec quaesita voluptate. Perturbationes autem nulla naturae vi commoventur, omniaque ea sunt opiniones ac iudicia levitatis.
Sed quia studebat laudi et dignitati, multum in virtute processerat. Avaritiamne minuis? Illa videamus, quae a te de amicitia dicta sunt. Si stante, hoc natura videlicet vult, salvam esse se, quod concedimus; Vitiosum est enim in dividendo partem in genere numerare. Habent enim et bene longam et satis litigiosam disputationem. Eam si varietatem diceres, intellegerem, ut etiam non dicente te intellego; Verum tamen cum de rebus grandioribus dicas, ipsae res verba rapiunt; Duae sunt enim res quoque, ne tu verba solum putes. Homines optimi non intellegunt totam rationem everti, si ita res se habeat.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ergo instituto veterum, quo etiam Stoici utuntur, hinc capiamus exordium. Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Sin laboramus, quis est, qui alienae modum statuat industriae? Illa enim, quae prosunt aut quae nocent, aut bona sunt aut mala, quae sint paria necesse est. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Nihil ad rem! Ne sit sane;
Haec bene dicuntur, nec ego repugno, sed inter sese ipsa pugnant. Iam quae corporis sunt, ea nec auctoritatem cum animi partibus, comparandam et cognitionem habent faciliorem.
Verum tamen cum de rebus grandioribus dicas, ipsae res verba rapiunt; Aliter homines, aliter philosophos loqui putas oportere? Hoc etsi multimodis reprehendi potest, tamen accipio, quod dant. Quae duo sunt, unum facit. Quae cum praeponunt, ut sit aliqua rerum selectio, naturam videntur sequi; Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam; Post enim Chrysippum eum non sane est disputatum. Stulti autem malorum memoria torquentur, sapientes bona praeterita grata recordatione renovata delectant.
Et hunc idem dico, inquieta sed ad virtutes et ad vitia nihil interesse. Ne in odium veniam, si amicum destitero tueri. Ne discipulum abducam, times. Nam quibus rebus efficiuntur voluptates, eae non sunt in potestate sapientis. Sed quot homines, tot sententiae; Teneo, inquit, finem illi videri nihil dolere. Et hercule-fatendum est enim, quod sentio -mirabilis est apud illos contextus rerum.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Erit enim instructus ad mortem contemnendam, ad exilium, ad ipsum etiam dolorem. Utrum igitur tibi litteram videor an totas paginas commovere? Quod non faceret, si in voluptate summum bonum poneret. Sed ad haec, nisi molestum est, habeo quae velim. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Qui autem esse poteris, nisi te amor ipse ceperit? Nemo igitur esse beatus potest. In primo enim ortu inest teneritas ac mollitia quaedam, ut nec res videre optimas nec agere possint. Itaque hic ipse iam pridem est reiectus; Illud mihi a te nimium festinanter dictum videtur, sapientis omnis esse semper beatos;
Videmusne ut pueri ne verberibus quidem a contemplandis rebus perquirendisque deterreantur? Ut proverbia non nulla veriora sint quam vestra dogmata. Nam, ut saepe iam dixi, in infirma aetate inbecillaque mente vis naturae quasi per caliginem cernitur; Cuius ad naturam apta ratio vera illa et summa lex a philosophis dicitur. Iam quae corporis sunt, ea nec auctoritatem cum animi partibus, comparandam et cognitionem habent faciliorem. Quis suae urbis conservatorem Codrum, quis Erechthei filias non maxime laudat? Comprehensum, quod cognitum non habet? Non minor, inquit, voluptas percipitur ex vilissimis rebus quam ex pretiosissimis.
Est, ut dicis, inquit; An potest cupiditas finiri? Quis non odit sordidos, vanos, leves, futtiles? Nec tamen ille erat sapiens quis enim hoc aut quando aut ubi aut unde? Quae contraria sunt his, malane? Ut necesse sit omnium rerum, quae natura vigeant, similem esse finem, non eundem. Cum audissem Antiochum, Brute, ut solebam, cum M.
Non autem hoc: igitur ne illud quidem. Quippe: habes enim a rhetoribus; Sed quanta sit alias, nunc tantum possitne esse tanta. Sed quid minus probandum quam esse aliquem beatum nec satis beatum? Hoc ipsum elegantius poni meliusque potuit. Potius inflammat, ut coercendi magis quam dedocendi esse videantur. Gerendus est mos, modo recte sentiat. Ad eas enim res ab Epicuro praecepta dantur. Hoc loco discipulos quaerere videtur, ut, qui asoti esse velint, philosophi ante fiant.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cuius quidem, quoniam Stoicus fuit, sententia condemnata mihi videtur esse inanitas ista verborum. Ut id aliis narrare gestiant? Tria genera bonorum; Sed fortuna fortis; Negat esse eam, inquit, propter se expetendam. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Roges enim Aristonem, bonane ei videantur haec: vacuitas doloris, divitiae, valitudo; Nam illud quidem adduci vix possum, ut ea, quae senserit ille, tibi non vera videantur. Eadem nunc mea adversum te oratio est.
Quod si ita se habeat, non possit beatam praestare vitam sapientia. Rapior illuc, revocat autem Antiochus, nec est praeterea, quem audiamus. Dat enim intervalla et relaxat. Vitiosum est enim in dividendo partem in genere numerare.
Quos quidem tibi studiose et diligenter tractandos magnopere censeo. An me, inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec dicturum fuisse? Ex quo intellegitur officium medium quiddam esse, quod neque in bonis ponatur neque in contrariis. Neque solum ea communia, verum etiam paria esse dixerunt. Non quaeritur autem quid naturae tuae consentaneum sit, sed quid disciplinae. Commoda autem et incommoda in eo genere sunt, quae praeposita et reiecta diximus; Tum Quintus: Est plane, Piso, ut dicis, inquit.
Hic quoque suus est de summoque bono dissentiens dici vere Peripateticus non potest. Terram, mihi crede, ea lanx et maria deprimet. Non pugnem cum homine, cur tantum habeat in natura boni; Quam multa vitiosa! summum enim bonum et malum vagiens puer utra voluptate diiudicabit, stante an movente? Laboro autem non sine causa; Tum Piso: Quoniam igitur aliquid omnes, quid Lucius noster? Qua igitur re ab deo vincitur, si aeternitate non vincitur? Quis istud, quaeso, nesciebat?