How I became Putin’s No 1 enemy

Red Notice by Bill Browder

I wasn’t going to chat about Red Notice by Bill Browder, as so much has already been written about it. But then I decided that, because the book made such a huge impact on me, I simply have to talk about it.

It is, as Lee Child said, a story that needs to be told and shared. This is the story of Bill Browder who bravely put pen to paper to expose in detail the corruption and criminal enterprise run by Putin’s Russian regime. It literally reads like a thriller except, sadly, it’s based on truth. And by reading his book and spreading the word, we can all assist in a small way to prevent an ‘accident’ from befalling Bill Browder, as has been the case with so many of Putin’s critics.

Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, one of the largest foreign investment companies in Russia until 2005 when it comes to an abrupt end as Browder – who commutes between Moscow and London – is denied entry into Russia without explanation.

Browder tells his story in an enthralling way. He calls himself a ‘numbers’ guy who grew up in a family of communists. He is the grandson of Earl Browder who spent time in Russia and married a Russian girl before he returned to the USA to become the leader of the American Communist Party.

Browder rebels against his family ideologies by opting for the capitalist route and takes us along on his journey to become one of the biggest investors in Russia. Then, of course, it all changes as he becomes one of the enemies of the corrupt Russian government.

When his attorney is brutally tortured and killed in 2009 by Putin and his regime for testifying against Russian Ministry officials who stole $230 million of taxes paid by Hermitage Capital Management, Browder starts his global campaign to expose Putin’s rule of corruption and human abuses. His brave and relentless drive is to change the law to ensure some form of financial punishment is meted out in the US and Europe to those guilty of these atrocities.

One cannot but salute Bill Browder whose explosive journey took him from the New York- and London financial markets in the ’90s to his initial and later highly successful investments in Russia to now being one of the world’s most esteemed human rights activists and probably Putin’s No 1 Enemy.

What a read.