Bill Browder - Vladimir Putin Wants Me Dead

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March 12, 2018

Bill Browder, the American-born CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, who is often referred to as the Number 1 enemy, of Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Browder’s fund, Hermitage Capital, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies. In 2009 his Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was killed in a Moscow prison after exposing a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials. Since then, he has spent the last eight years conducting a global campaign, to impose visa bans and asset freezes on individual human rights abusers, particularly those who played a role in Magnitsky’s false arrest, torture and death. The United States was the first to impose these sanctions with the passage of the 2012 “Magnitsky Act. ”
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Chapters

00:00 | Trailer
02:00 Brian’s thoughts on the episode
04:15 Brian’s introduction
05:19 Putin is one of the most cynical, evil, aggressive, sociopathic killer dictators on the planet
10:08 Hillary Clinton and the Russian reset button was a futile gesture of appeasement
11:19 Absolute power corrupts absolutely: how Putin has created absolute power in Russia
15:17 You cannot understand Russia with your mind: the Russian people’s supposed love for Putin
17:07 The money tells you everything and Putin likes money
23:23 Why Putin annexed Crimea, invaded Ukraine and is now in Syria
30:35 Donald Trump election connection to Bill Browder, Sergei Magnitsky, and the Magnitsky Act
36:51 USA political and ideological chaos created by Putin
39:56 Bill is primary number one target of Vladimir Putin
41:49 British Government did nothing after British citizen Alexander Litvinenko murdered in London
43:21 The killing and posthumous trial of Sergei Magnitsky and Bill’s conviction in absentia
51:28 Bill Browder’s family history and its connection with Russia, Communist party and McCarthyism
1:02:36 Bill’s first job leads to financial equivalent of crack cocaine
1:12:23 Enlightening account of time at Salomon Brothers with instruction to make 5 times his salary
1:30:43 Move to Russia, making money, then Russia devalued their currency
1:36:11 Bill’s life is changed forever when he discovers the Oligarchs
1:48:00 Arrest on entering Russia starts his worst nightmare and Sergei Magnitsky takes the rap
1:52;35 Sergei Magnitsky refused to talk despite 358 days of torture
1:58:18 They will make monuments to Sergei Magnitsky in Russia in a different era
1:58:42 Getting the Magnitsky Act passed in America and how it is a game changer across the world
2:02:21 Chilling reason for deliberately keeping himself in the public eye
2:04:11 Possibility of a film being made of Bill’s book Red Notice
2:04:52 Olympics doping scandal and the film Icarus depicting Grigory Rodchenkov’s involvement
2:08:11 How Bill stays focussed on his goal every day despite the dangers
2:09:38 What is Bill’s super power in getting things done
2:10:44 Does he worry about his friends and family
2:11:10 What scares Bill
2:11:53 What he thinks of Donald Trump
2:13:17 Worst and best days of Bill’s life
2:15:18 What keeps him awake at night
2:16:03 The most influential person in his life
2:16:15 Phone call to the 20-year old Bill Browder
2:17:24 Best advice he ever received
2:18:04 Advice to people listening to take from this episode
2:19:17 Brian’s summing up.