Russian Government Controversy
Although the fund's founder William Browder was a supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin, in 2006 he was blacklisted by the Russian government as a "threat to national security" and denied entry to the country. The Economist has accused the Russian government that this blacklisting occurred because he interfered with the flow of money to "corrupt bureaucrats and their businessmen accomplices."
As the New York Times reported in 2008, over the next two years, several of his associates and lawyers, as well as their relatives, were victims of crimes, including severe beatings and robberies during which documents were taken. In June 2007 dozens of police officers swooped down on the Moscow offices of Hermitage and its law firm, confiscating documents and computers. When a member of the firm protested that the search was illegal, he was beaten by officers and hospitalized for two weeks. Hermitage became victim of what is known in Russia as "corporate raiding": seizing companies and other assets with the aid of corrupt law enforcement officials and judges. Three Hermitage holdings companies were seized on what the company's lawyers insist are bogus charges.
On 8 October Hermitage released a video on YouTube accusing Russian Police of fraud.
On November 16, 2009 Sergei Magnitsky, a partner of the legal company Firestone Duncan, who was a representative and legal consultant for William Browder in Moscow, having been accused in tax fraud and imprisoned for 11 months, died in prison. He had yet to be put on trial at the time of his death.
Opalesque.TV released a video on February 8th 2010 in which Browder reveals details of Sergey Magnitzky's ordeal during his eleven months in detention.
Read more about this topic: Hermitage Capital Management
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