Bill Browder
Bill Browder is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hermitage Capital Management. He went from being the biggest foreign investor in Russia to being one of the country’s biggest enemies, in his own words. His battle against corporate corruption led to the authorities declaring him a threat to national security and a prison sentence of nine years. Since working to expose corruption in Russia, he has continued to fight for economic reform and has brought over 47 cases to court. As a shareholder activist, he is a strong advocate for better corporate governance and has made great strides in improving the corporate standards of many companies.
Bill Browder Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Academic History
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BA, Economics
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Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Browder began his career as a management consultant with the Eastern European practice of the Boston Consulting Group.
- He became the vice president at Salomon Brothers, where he managed Russian proprietary investments.
- He has made radical changes to corporate law by introducing a cumulative voting system for director elections and creating pre-emptive rights for minority shareholders.
- He has appeared as a guest on Real Vision.
The Magnitsky Act
- In 2006, in retaliation for his firm’s investigation into high-level corruption, Russian authorities blacklisted Browder as a “threat to national security” and barred him from entering Russia.
- In 2008, his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes.
- Sergei testified against state officials involved in this fraud and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial, and systematically tortured.
- He spent a year in prison under horrific detention conditions, was repeatedly denied medical treatment, and died in prison on November 16, 2009.
- In 2013, Russian authorities declared that they would press charges of tax evasion against both Browder and Magnitsky, both of whom were tried in absentia.
- This trial was the first in Russian history to charge a deceased individual.
- Both Browder and Magnitsky were convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to nine years in prison.
- Interpol rejected requests by Russia’s interior ministry to place Browder on its search and arrest list, denouncing the case as “predominantly political.”
- Browder began a global campaign to bring justice to Magnitsky’s killers.
- This campaign resulted in the Magnitsky Act, a U.S. law that prohibits Russian officials thought to be responsible for the death of Magnitsky from entering the U.S. and from using the U.S. banking system.
- 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.