Freezing Order: A True Story of Money Laundering, Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin's Wrath
Bill Browder
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERFollowing his explosive New York Times bestseller Red Notice, Bill Browder returns with another gripping thriller chronicling how he became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy by exposing Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stands in his way. When Bill Browder’s young Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was beaten to death in a Moscow jail, Browder made it his life’s mission to go after his killers and make sure they faced justice. The first step of that mission was to uncover who was behind the $230 million tax refund scheme that Magnitsky was killed over. more
336 pages, Hardcover
First published Simon & Schuster
4.33
Rating
21615
Ratings
1521
Reviews
Bill Browder
5 books 1182 followers
Bill Browder, founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005. Since 2009, when his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was murdered in prison after uncovering a $230 million fraud committed by Russian government officials, Browder has been leading a campaign to expose Russia’s endemic corruption and human rights abuses. 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.Community reviews
Real Rating: 4. 5* of five, rounded up for the startling information about *why* we are where we are now & also why Navalny had to die on 16 February 2024I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF MY LOCAL LIBRARY. USE THEIR SERVICES. WE NEED THEM AND THEY NEED US TO SURVIVE. My Review: In the pantheon of moral crusaders, Bill Browder's the least likely figure I've found to date. more
Murder, intrigue, corruption, organized crime, double dealing and high stakes international politics involving billions of dollars. Browder, perhaps lucky to still be here, tells his story exposing Putin and his cronies as an organized crime syndicate that runs Russia. More frustrating to Browder are the American law firms, publicists and lobbyists who are paid millions to enable their crimes and spread their propaganda. Revealing and important. Written with verve. more
Putin's Money TrailReview of the Simon & Schuster hardcover edition (April 12, 2022)Freezing Order is Bill Browder's continuing story of his world-wide crusade to expose the trail of crimes of the current Russian ruling kleptocracy headed by Vladimir Putin. It summarizes the earlier events of Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice (2015) and brings the story up to events such as the passage of several further worldwide Acts of Magnitsky Legislation, named in honor of Browder's lawyer Sergei Magnitsky (1972-2009) who died under the torture of Kremlin thugs. Magnitsky legislation can be generally summarized as "laws providing for governmental sanctions against foreign individuals who have committed human rights abuses or been involved in significant corruption. " (quoted excerpt from the Wikipedia article linked above). The book is structured much like a suspense thriller, often with cliff-hanger chapter endings that compel you to continue reading as you wonder how much crazier and dangerous can this possibly get. more
Can’t make this shit up. A timely pageturner that not only highlights the terrifying lengths that Putin will go to to protect his kleptocracy but also shows the susceptibility of American politicians to his propaganda. Unputdownable. I think it’s helpful, but not necessary, to have read Browder’s prior book, Red Notice. But it does mean that the first section of this book will feel a bit repetitive. more
Browder’s true story reads like an international thriller filled with murders, personal vendettas, legal jujitsu, and more. Unbelievably, Browder is still alive—even though Russian president Vladimir Putin has placed him in both legal and personal jeopardy more than once. It all began when Bill Browder took economic advantage of an opportunity in 1996 after the fall of the Soviet Union. He set up a hedge fund in Moscow called the Hermitage Fund to invest in Russian companies. Almost immediately, Russian oligarchs and corrupt government officials found ways to artfully steal from the companies. more
Fast-paced and all too relevant, this is a interesting and important read for people hoping to better understand the machinations of power within Russia and how those impact the rest of the world. Though it is, of course, very one-sided, it was a compelling read and one I can certainly recommend. more
Reading this for book club, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, and thought this was going to be an exciting spy novel. Or maybe a story loosely based on real events. Once I started the book and found it was Bill Browder’s true story, I found it truly shocking. Mr. Browder, CEO of a hedge fund investing in Russian companies, and his colleagues are accused by the Russian government of stealing $230M. more
This book tells the story of the Magnitsky Act, the tragic circumstances that surround its creation, and the role that it has had in freezing money laundering assets trailing from Russia and Vladimir Putin to banks and countries across the world. The tale, winding over 20 years from the 2006 finding of a fraudulent $230 million tax refund by lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, part of a team from Hermitage Capital Management, originally based in Russia, tells of their fight to find the truth. The Act, initiated after the 358 day long wrongful incarceration and eventual death of Magnitsky in Russia, is one means that countries can track and prosecute monies laundered through their country’s banks. Currently, 34 different countries have this Act in place and over 500 sanctions have been made under the law. Filled with detail and clear focus, this true story is one each of us needs to read. more
3. 5 I learnt a tremendous amount here about Russian money laundering and the Magnitsky act, all of it interesting but I would have loved a more objective account. This statement would seem to suggest I don't trust the author's view on things, which is not the case. But rather I feel fewer mentions of family skiing vacations in Aspen and all the trans-continental jet setting might have made space for some more interesting analysis. I guess what this tells me is I like books written by investigative journalists rather than self-penned memoirs even though this one is quite thrilling. more
Kudos to Bill Browder to go above and beyond in his quest to fight wrong. more
Was I a different person when I read Bill Browder’s RED NOTICE less than three years ago. Is his current book, continuing that story, written in a different tone. I say yes to both questions. I’m now totally disgusted by people who have to tell us how privileged they are by dropping in details about their family skiing vacations whilst telling us an espionage story. Disgusted by arrogance in people who think they can direct another person’s life choices. more
There are several detailed reviews available of Freezing Order, and I'm not going to swell the rout of eight-paragraph analyses of Bill Browder's book here. Suffice it to say that Browder explains in plain language in this book and his earlier Red Notice why the Russian regime under Putin is an organized crime syndicate masquerading as a government, and he describes how Western banking and legal institutions have wittingly and unwittingly aided Putin's, and the oligarch's, accumulation of wealth. Most of their money has ended up in banks or real estate in Switzerland, the UK, the US, and other Western "rule of law" nations, and the total amount moved is in the neighborhood of $1 trillion, with about 20% of that belonging to Putin himself. Finally, the war in Ukraine has woken most people up to what a monster Putin is, but the only way to make him and his cronies suffer for their crimes is to make them as poor as possible by shutting them out of Western financial systems, seizing their assets, and stopping them from using the West as their playground. The Magnitsky Act in the US that Bill Browder worked so long to get passed into law and similar laws in Canada, the EU, the UK, and Australia (with similar bills pending in several countries) finally gives national justice / law enforcement agencies the tools they need to seize assets and prosecute criminals. more
Like Browder’s previous book, Red Notice, Freezing Order reads like a thriller although it’s nonfiction. That’s great for us as readers, but must have been harrowing to live through. I listened to the audiobook and found it well-narrated. Highly recommended. more
This is extraordinary. While I had been recommended Red Notice by bookstore customers many times, reading it had never really appealed to me. However, with the war in Ukraine raising interest in all things Russia and Putin-related higher, I put this book on my list. Holy crap. This is an unbelievable story. more
Who doesn't want to know more about what makes Vladimir Putin tick these days. Bill Browder's Freezing Order, his follow up work to Red Notice, offers plenty of evidence that Putin is a revengeful criminal. The title Freezing Order is a reference to a law called the Magnitsky Act which allows the US, and other countries who have enacted similar sanctions, to freeze money in accounts where these funds are the proceeds of criminal acts. The Act is named after Sergei Magnitsky, Browder's former Russian Attorney who was imprisoned and beaten to death by the Russians for being an honest man. Magnitsky is a major part of Brower's Red Notice. more
You literally cannot make this stuff up. Freezing Order reads like a political thriller but it’s the stuff of real life. The reach of Purim’s tentacles and the lengths his administration goes to in order to protect the kleptocracy is terrifying and astounding. I’m going back to read Red Notice which I wish I’d read before I dipped into this one. . more
The continuing story of Bill Browder's prodigious efforts to bring retribution to Putin and the Russian oligarchs who murdered his colleague Sergei Magnitsky and have stolen billions from the people of Russia. I would recommend reading his first book Red Notice first, which is not necessary but helpful for context around Browder's connection to Russia and the wealth he is able to bring to his campaign to get governments around the world to freeze/seize illegal funds from money laundering. The center of the story is a huge tax refund to Russian patsies ($230 million), which then hung on Browder, who is the subject of Russian rendition efforts. This is an ode to "truth is stranger than fiction. ". more
This is a superb book written by a very brave man. The background is this. Bill Browder is an American-born British financier and political activist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which at one time was the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. The primary investment strategy of Browder was shareholder rights activism. more
I'm not one for political books but found this one fascinating. Browder does an excellent job of setting up his story of the Magnitsky Act and it reads like it was a fictional murder mystery. Except it all happened. I mean some of the stuff would be laughed at if written for a movie - like the attorney who fought the good fight but eventually becomes corrupted by Russian money is named . . more
FREEZING ORDER: A TRUE STORY OF MONEY LAUNDERING, MURDER, and SURVIVING PUTIN's WRATHBill BrowderOMG, seriously the scariest book I have ever read in my life. I was butterflies and at the edge of my chair so many times. I consistently wanted to yell, go back Bill. But I don't know where he would go back to. Nothing really surprises me today about corrupt politicos, I think they are all pretty much corrupt, and selling their souls for new soles. more
Let me start by saying - as you read it , there are many a times you will ask yourself- is this really possible. Did this really happen. Was the world blind . It reads better than a thriller . A true story which should be read by many. more
WOW. I won this book through Goodreads Giveaways and I’m SO GLAD that I did. It reads like a fiction thriller, but all of it is true. For doubters, everything in the book was so publicized during the actual events it would be easy to fact check any claim or event. I can’t imagine what it was like for Bill Browder and his family for so many years. more
Reading Browder's Freezing Order feels, to me, like chewing on cardboard. I got as far as 50% before giving up. DNF. more
Browder likes seeing himself as a pseudo secret agent or spy. Every women is beautiful and intelligent, every enemy has a prior motive. Whilst I acknowledge the situation he has gone through, a little more humility would be nice. . more
“It’s one thing for Russians to act the way they do. Their society is so harsh and unforgiving that in order to get through life, most people are either getting screwed or screwing someone else—and often both. There are few rewards for doing what is right. ”A great follow up to the first book “Red Notice”. Based on true events and investigations, it exposes the scale, scope, shameless audacity and corruption of Putin and his cronies. more
Bill Browder, um investidor financeiro que inicialmente viu oportunidades na Rússia pós-soviética, compartilha a sua jornada desde a busca por lucro até o confronto com a corrupção sistemática . O segundo livro oferece uma visão perspicaz sobre a degradação da política russa, as lutas por poder e as consequências de desafiar o chefe do estado, Vladimir Putin. Esta obra consegue transmitir ao leitor de uma forma viciante, sem complexidade, como o mundo da politica e financeira russa é vista pelo ocidente. Browder é obrigado enfrentado com obstáculos e desafios extraordinários em sua busca por justiça devidoa mortes, detenções e perseguições que os seus amigos tiveram que sujeitar para uma Russia mais livre, menos corrupta. Este livro de não ficção, conta factos reais que mostra o quão instável, corrupto e ameaçador a Russia está a ficar, em pleno século XXI, graças ao ditador Putin. more
I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book since I read Bill Browder’s jaw dropping debut book, Red Notice, in one sitting. I generally follow the news, so I know that Putin is a bad guy, but you don’t realize the total depravity of the Putin regime until someone like Browder writes about all of his atrocities in one tome. This book is another incredible journey into the pits of Russian degeneracy, and the Russian government’s fight against the Magnitsky Act that Browder fought so hard to pass to vindicate the death of his friend and attorney, Sergei Magnitsky. Magnitsky exposed Russian corruption and misconduct alongside Browder and was subsequently tortured and killed by the regime. From the first chapter to the last, I was hanging on to the edge of my seat during the entire book, as Browder courageously tries to find out who was behind the spiderweb of money laundering and murder and why. more
This book is not Red Notice, not even close. It is good, but it seems to drag on a bit. Once he gets into the Trump stuff, the book just seems to fizzle out. Hard to believe this book is rated as high as it is, I think anti-Trumpers have clung to this book as some kind of proof of. well proof of something. more
Another excellent expose of the Putin regime’s criminality, corruption and murderous brutality. The book reads like a fine spy novel. more
