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

Product Information

I was either being kidnapped or arrested, but the world outside was oblivious, enjoying a day of sightseeing. When I arrived at my hotel that evening, the manager scurried over to the check-in desk and ushered the clerk aside. More explosive, compulsive and gasp-inducingly, spine-tingingly, mouth-dryingly, heart-poundingly thrilling than any fiction I have read for years. I would encourage anyone interested in what goes on in high places to read this book and be educated in such matters.

It is among a crop of excellent recent books about Russia…If its subject matter weren’t so grave, the book could be said to have all the elements of a high-octane drama. Fast paced and engaging , Browder’s book reads like a spy novel, but it also makes a powerful and remarkably prescient case for the need to use all the legal and financial tools available to separate Putin’s financiers from their foreign-held bank accounts and luxury yachts. I thought of my 10-year-old daughter, Veronica, whom I had promised a similar trip, but who might now have to wait a very long time. Every news outlet—ABC, Sky News, the BBC, CNN, Time, the Washington Post—all of them wanted to know what was going on. He spoke quickly to the officers, and then said, “These gentlemen will give you a few moments to pack.We were soon stuck in traffic again, this time in front of the Royal Palace, among a throng of tour buses and schoolchildren. The Russians hired a lawyer who had previously worked for Browder, a conflict of interest that eventually had the lawyer barred, but not before Browder feared his personal information had been passed on to the people who were out to get him. It is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one the world’s most ruthless villains—and win. This personal account of Browder's battle for justice is at times terrifying, at times deeply touching— and leads inexorably to a vast money laundering scheme the Kremlin will stop at nothing to cover up.

He led me to his office, where I told him the story about Sergei Magnitsky, my Russian lawyer, that I’d told so many times before. I've just complete Bill's book and have been left feeling incredibly angry, shocked and fearful but predominantly, amazed at the tenacity and bravery shown by those mentioned in this deep expose of Putin and his cabal of liars, thieves and murderers.

In terms of western relations with Vladimir Putin, Bill Browder has performed the role of the canary in the coalmine – or perhaps goldmine would be more fitting. There’s something deeply offending to our sense of justice about an innocent man framed by powerful forces. 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! Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. I explained how, in 2008, Sergei had been taken hostage by corrupt Russian officials and ultimately killed in jail as my proxy.