Red Notice

Starred review from November 10, 2014
In Russia the gangsters are running the government, according to this fascinating firsthand story of state criminality and persecution. Browder, founder of the hedge fund Hermitage Capital Management (and grandson of American Communist Party leader Earl Browder), made his fortune investing in underpriced, privatized ex-Soviet companies and prodding their corrupt managers to divulge the truth about their assets. The enmity of Russian oligarchs—and, eventually, Vladimir Putin—got him expelled from the country, whereupon his companies were seized by a group of police officials and used to steal $230 million from the Russian Treasury. When Browder’s Moscow lawyer Sergei Magnitsky unmasked the officials behind the conspiracy, Magnitsky was arrested, denied medical attention, and finally murdered in prison. Browder’s narrative lays out in vivid detail the often murky mechanisms of Russia’s kleptocratic economy, culminating in an engrossing account of what would surely be the heist of the century were it not so representative of business as usual. It’s also a chilling, sinister portrait of a society in which the rule of law has been destroyed by those sworn to enforce it. The result is an alternately harrowing and inspiring saga of appalling crime and undeserved punishment in the Wild East. Photos. Agent: Patrick Walsh, Conville and Walsh Literary Agency (U.K.).

February 1, 2015

This book is an entertaining and frightening example of the workings of risk and return, two elementary concepts in finance. In 2005, Browder, an investment manager, had made a fortune investing in post-Soviet Russia. The author describes in a breezy, conversational style how he antagonized Russian oligarchs who attempted to thwart his company's investments. He then ran afoul of the Russian government when his tax attorney, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered tax fraud committed by Russian officials. After this, Browder says that the government arrested Magnitsky and murdered him. Russia attempted to have Interpol arrest Browder via a "Red Notice," an international arrest warrant, but several countries have refused to honor it. Through Browder's efforts, the United States enacted the Magnitsky Act in 2012, which imposed visa and banking restrictions on Russian officials implicated in human rights abuses. The only shortcomings in an otherwise captivating book are extensive reconstructed dialog and an absence of sourcing. VERDICT Rich characterizations and well-explained financial intrigue make this a compelling read. [See Prepub Alert, 8/11/14.]--Harry Charles, St. Louis

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