A true story about the incredible corruption, dishonesty and depravity in Russia.
Synopsis
A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin’s corruption.
Bill Browder’s journey started on the South Side of Chicago and moved through Stanford Business School to the dog-eat-dog world of hedge fund investing in the 1990s. It continued in Moscow, where Browder made his fortune heading the largest investment fund in Russia after the Soviet Union’s collapse. But when he exposed the corrupt oligarchs who were robbing the companies in which he was investing, Vladimir Putin turned on him and, in 2005, had him expelled from Russia.
In 2007, a group of law enforcement officers raided Browder’s offices in Moscow and stole $230 million of taxes that his fund’s companies had paid to the Russian government. Browder’s attorney Sergei Magnitsky investigated the incident and uncovered a sprawling criminal enterprise. A month after Sergei testified against the officials involved, he was arrested and thrown into pre-trial detention, where he was tortured for a year. On November 16, 2009, he was led to an isolation chamber, handcuffed to a bedrail, and beaten to death by eight guards in full riot gear.
Browder glimpsed the heart of darkness, and it transformed his life: he embarked on an unrelenting quest for justice in Sergei’s name, exposing the towering cover-up that leads right up to Putin. A financial caper, a crime thriller, and a political crusade, Red Notice is the story of one man taking on overpowering odds to change the world.
Richard says…
This book is an intriguing and captivating read revealing the depths and extent to which human rights are violated and ignored in Russia today.
The engaging aspect of the book is multifold. It is based on true events and real incidents. People living in the west, in democratic and free societies such as Canada will find the book abhorrent. The facts are incredible but then so is much of the world we live in.
Browder is an investor and financier who launched his revenue-earning hedge fund in the 1990s in Russia. He was on the leading edge of making big money in Russia but he found the system had unexpected stumbling blocks that were outside of the realm of finance. He discovered Russia was/is a country that is incredibly corrupted and terribly faulty in respect to human rights and Vladimir Putin, the head of Russia today, is #1 on the villain list.
The book is a challenge to read because of the tremendous amount of information and extensive details that Browder writes. A reader can easily get bogged down in a quagmire of excessive information. I found my attention waned as I was inundated with more and more information but Browder is excellent at jarring one back into focus by current information and present-day facts.
An eye-opening read which will reinforce one’s opposition to Russia and Putin, particularly in light of its war-mongering persona of today.
