Bill Browder: "Putin doesn’t keep any money in his own name, he uses people he trusts"

Question: You published a book in which you capture the events that you experienced in Russia under the presidency of Vladimir Putin. What happened?

Answer: I started as an investor in Russia. I soon discovered massive corruption the companies I invested in. I publicly complained. I was subsequently expelled from the country, decanted a threat to national security, my offices raided and my lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested tortured and killed. I since began a worldwide campaign for justice. 

Q. In your book you assure that in the beginning the interests of Putin and yours coincided. Did you initially think that Putin wanted to seize power from the oligarchs and clean up Russia?

A. When Putin came to power his original pitch to the Russian people was that he was going to end the power of the oligarchs. The oligarchs had created such a terrible situation in Russia that I and everyone else cheered for him. But it turned out that he didn’t want to end the era of the oligarchs. He just wanted to become the biggest oligarch himself.

Q. When did you realize that it was not like that, but that he wanted to keep a percentage of the country's businesses?

A. In 2003 Putin arrested the biggest oligarch in Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and expropriated his oil company. I thought that he was the first and then there would be many more. But the next oligarch, Roman Abramovich was paid $13 billion for his oil company and appointed by Putin to be the governor of the Chukotka region. That was the moment I realized that Putin wasn’t serious. 

Q. Has your lawyer Magnitsky managed to uncover some of the corruption in Russia?

A. My lawyer Sergei Magnitsky discovered that a group of police officers, tax officials and organized criminals stole $230 million of taxes that my firm paid to the Russian government from the Russian government. He exposed it, testified against the officials and was subsequently arrested, tortured and killed.

Q. What role did Serguei Rolduguin play or have played in this plot allegedly linked to Vladimir Putin?

A. Companies connected to Sergei Roldugin’s received some of the proceeds of the $230million. It’s widely known that Sergei Roldugin is Putin’s oldest friend and a nominee for Putin. 

Q. Why is it not possible to detect the alleged hidden fortune of Vladimir Putin?

A. Putin doesn’t keep any money in his own name. If he did he would be exposed and blackmailed. Instead he uses people he trusts in handshake agreements. 

Q. In Spain, the Audiencia Nacional is investigating whether the alleged criminal plot linked to the Putin regime could have laundered up to 35 million euros in Spain. Did you report it? 

A. We received information from a worldwide investigation that some of the proceeds of this crime came to Spain. We reported it to the authorities who opened up a criminal case. 

Q. In which part of Spain?

A. We’d have to check the documents. I’m not familiar with Spanish geography. 

Q. Do you know the names of this people? Serguei Rolduguin or other persons of the Government of Putin could participate in this case in Spain?

A. The people who own these properties are lower down the food chain. 

Q. When you came to Spain to testify at the Audiencia Nacional, you were arrested for a red notice [the name of his book]. His book seemed prescient...

A. Yes, it was shocking. I was invited by [the Spanish Prosecutor] Jose Grinda to give evidence in the case and then arrested by a different arm of Spanish law enforcement on a Russian warrant organized by the people Grinda was investigating. 

Q. Are you surprised that Putin has ordered the invasion of Ukraine?

A. I am. He always wanted to keep one foot in the civilized world and one foot in the criminal world. In this case he’s gone all in on the criminal world.

Q. Do you think your life is in danger for denouncing the alleged corruption of the Government of Vladimir Putin?

A. It is for sure. They’ve threatened me with death, kidnapping, arrest, extradition and many other horrible things. 

Q. Now you have published a new book, (Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath), Does it delve into the corruption of the Vladimir Putin regime?

A. It does. And it follows the money.

[Read the interview in Spanish here]