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

Browder (Red Notice), an American-born British subject known for his indefatigable struggle with the Putin regime in pursuit of justice for his murdered anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, brings to this book a deep familiarity with all aspects of Russian politics, money laundering, and its deadly criminality. Browder, who founded Hermitage Capital Management, the largest foreign investor in Russia, was “indicted” in Russia on a bogus charge of stealing 230 million in taxes siphoned off by Dmitry Klyuev’s crime organization. He sought to expose the money’s destination and the criminal enterprise “Prevezon.” This account begins with Browder’s illegal arrest in Spain, ending with the exposure of massive money laundering in Scandinavian banks. Putin fails to have the Trump administration exchange Browder and his colleagues for convicted Russian intelligence operatives in Russia. The title comes from the key tool of freezing Western assets purchased by laundered money. The complexity is highlighted by Browder’s determined Russian allies, the opposing craven cadre of Western “enablers,” the importance of imaginative attorneys, and the sheer luck of such events as exposing the infamous “Panama Papers.”