Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, Murder,and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath

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Bill Browder has shown that one man with courage can make a difference, and that even the most powerful regimes have weak spots. My admiration for Bill and those who helped fight for the Magnitsky Act to prevent such huge money laundering across the globe is beyond measure. Reading Bill Browder’s zesty new book about the theft, extortion, intimidation, lies and murder that are the Russian state’s daily levers of power can feel like reading several books at once.

He spoke quickly to the officers, and then said, “These gentlemen will give you a few moments to pack.

If you read these books you’ll know more about what’s happening in Russia than not only the people in your neighborhood, but many on TV! An essential work by someone who understood long before the rest of the world did just how far corrupt Russian officials and businesspeople will go to defend their ill-gotten wealth, and how foreign lawyers, lobbyists and public relations firms enable them. He handed me a room key with both hands cupped in a vaguely Japanese manner and stepped from behind the counter. A few minutes later, the senior officer who’d presented the charge sheet re-entered the room, translator in tow, both with heads bowed.

Eighteen months later, Hermitage’s offices were raided by the Russian authorities and its paperwork removed. There was a dining room, its table laid out with pastries, chocolates, and champagne on ice; then came the reading room, with a small private library; then a lounge with a glass-topped bar; then a little office with subdued lighting; and finally, the bedroom, which had a freestanding bathtub tucked under a high window.If its subject matter weren’t so grave, the book could be said to have all the elements of a high-octane drama. I had to let him know what was going on, so I ducked behind the partition and cupped my hand over the phone. but what is most troubling here is how acquiescent the western establishment has been to Russian crimes and lies. It would be entertaining fiction, but it is a true story that serves as a roadmap for fighting back against the crime and corruption from Putin’s Russia. With the inevitable delays, I was looking at a minimum of six months of sitting in a sweltering Spanish jail before I was either released or sent to Russia.