Bill Browder tells the story of how his whistle blower lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was murdered in a Russian prison to cover up a massive fraud he had discovered. This story has been a key element in the current anti-Russia narrative that is so pervasive in Western European and North American politics.
It is also completely false.
The Myth
Sergei Magnitsky was not a lawyer hired by Bill Browder to investigate a massive fraud that Browder's company seemed to be the victim of. Instead, Magnitsky was an accountant who had been working for Browder's company for years.
And Magnitsky was not a whistle blower. Instead, Magnitsky was in prison because as an accountant working for Browder's company he was a key suspect in the massive tax fraud that Russian investigators were accusing Browder's company of (and for which Browder was later convicted).
There is also no credible evidence that Magnitsky was beaten to death in prison, or even that he was treated worse than other prisoners. He most likely died as a result of the poor conditions in the prison and the inadequate medical care he received for his serious health issues. There are also theories that Magnitsky was poisoned in prison to shut him up about what he knew about the tax fraud committed by Bill Browder's company, but hard evidence for those accusations seems to be lacking.
Lastly, Bill Browder could have most likely easily secured Sergei Magnitsky's release from prison, simply by paying the taxes he owed. But Browder never did.
Evidence
The evidence that the story Bill Browder tells about Sergei Magnitsky is false is readily available, some of it is even confirmed by Browder himself, when he had to testify under oath. Watch Browder get exposed in these highlights from his deposition:
For more evidence, see the links below:
- Andrei Nekrasov set out to make a documentary about Sergei Magnitsky's story. The documentary, The Magnitsky Act: Behind the Scenes, takes an unexpected turn, however, when Nekrasov realizes Bill Browder has been lying to him and to the public about Magnitsky's story.
- A short summary of the falsehoods in Browder's Magnitsky story
- Alex Krainer's book, Grand Deception: The Truth about Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and Anti-Russia Sanctions provides an engaging and comprehensive history of Bill Browder's role in stoking Russophobia.
- Lucy Komisar provides a point by point refutation of Browder's story in this article.
- And finally, in 2019, a mainstream newspaper - Der Spiegel - publishes an expose on Bill Browder: The Case of Sergei Magnitsky: Anti-Corruption Champion or Corrupt Anti-Hero?
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