Bill Browder on Human Rights and Financial Transparency
11 March 2015
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Bill Browder is an investor whose London-based firm Hermitage Capital Management was an early investor in Russia and was highly profitable. Over time, Browder led campaigns for greater transparency in financial statements of Russian companies and alleged fraud. Russian authorities claimed Hermitage owed back taxes and sued Browder. Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer representing Hermitage, was arrested and died in suspicious circumstances in a Russian jail.
Browder actively sought his release and mobilised the US Government to impose targeted sanctions against Russian officials he said were involved with the case. He found allies among human rights activists in the United States. He has now written a book, Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice, which describes his Russian experience in great detail.
In a conversation with IHRB's Salil Tripathi in London, Browder speaks about the risks of investing in emerging markets, how the rule of law is crucial for both business and human rights, and how businesses will continue to remain primarily driven by profit and will not take human rights considerations into account unless there is greater transparency and accountability.
