Bill Browder: Being Russia’s Public Enemy

Hedgefund manager turned human rights activist Bill Browder will share his quest to bring justice to Russian officials involved in corruption, money laundering, and the elimination of political opponents.

Bill Browder has been challenging the Russian authorities with anti-corruption cases since the beginning of this century. In 2009, his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison after being severely beaten. Since then, Browder has been campaigning for the Magnitsky Act, legislation that enables the freezing of bank assets belonging to Russian oligarchs.

Time and again, Browder emphasizes: Putin is essentially running a mafia state. His war against Ukraine has little to do with ideology or a desire to restore the Soviet empire. It is all about distraction; war as a strategy to stay in power.

Bill Browder wrote the books Red Notice (2015) and Freezing Order (2022) about the workings of the Russian kleptocracy. In Russia, the country he once fell in love with and invested millions in, Browder is now persona non grata. In De Balie we speak with Browder about Putin, his circle of oligarchs and the war he is waging against Ukraine.