William Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management. He was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country as a consequence of his campaigning against corporate corruption.
In 2009, Browder’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Russian prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud by Russian government officials. Ever since, Browder has been leading a global campaign to expose the corruption and human rights abuses endemic in Russia. In 2012, the U.S. enacted the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, imposing visa bans and asset freezes on certain officials involved in Magnitsky’s death, and on other gross violators of human rights in Russia.
Browder is currently working to have similar legislation passed across the world in pursuit of justice for Magnitsky and to fight government corruption in Russia.
Browder is also the author of Red Notice, a dramatic and thriller-like account of how Sergei Magnitsky’s death transformed Browder from hedge-fund manager to global human rights crusader. Its title refers to the extradition request served by Russia on Interpol, demanding Browder’s arrest.
Before founding Hermitage, Browder was Vice-President at Salomon Brothers. He holds a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from Stanford Business School.
