The US-born financier, a sincere and longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said such a ban would touch the heart of what he described as a persistent problem for oligarchs using the UK legal system against journalists, journalists and bring them to expensive trials. Browder suggested the sanctions could eventually target any legal and financial expert who could prove to have helped the oligarchs hide their assets, but said his initial proposed blacklist focused on British lawyers involved in cases slander. Browder described “this whole class of British lawyers” being instructed by Russians and those with links to Russia to “sue journalists, dissidents and informants, including myself, and make money.” “There is this industry,” Browder said. “It will be very difficult to legislate the idea that a plaintiff can hire a lawyer to sue for defamation, because how do you define what is good and what is bad? “But if you find a lawyer who has done this on a regular basis – chasing people – the United States does not need to issue them a visa to come to this country.” The activist has proven to have influence in the Capitol. In a recent statement, U.S. Senator Ben Cardin called Browder a “hero” for “many” in the Senate for his role in passing the Magnitsky Act, an Obama-era bipartisan bill named after Browder’s former tax attorney. , Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody in Russia in 2009. The act was designed to allow the United States to punish officials linked to Magnitsky’s death, but also authorizes the United States to impose sanctions on human rights violators and bar them from entering the country. Browder said he was seeking the support of senators and members of Congress to write a letter to the State Department listing a list of specific lawyers whose visas he considered should be revoked. He did not name the lawyers who might appear on the list. Browder also argued that targeting oligarchs, such as lawyers and accountants, would be an effective way to raise money, at least half of which he said would eventually find its way to Putin’s funds as part of the Kremlin deal. with the oligarchs. “There’s going to be a very smart law enforcement job looking at sanctions avoidance right now. “These people have circled around us in the past,” Browder said. “They have created the most powerful asset protection mechanisms with trustees, portfolio companies, candidates and offshore attorneys.” Finding the oligarchs’ money, he said, would be an “almost impossible task.” He said he would like to add an amendment to the current sanctions law to hold lawyers, accountants, bankers and other financial advisers accountable – including possible prison terms – if they are found to have set up structures to avoid sanctions. “Very soon the whole system would become very transparent,” he said. Browder’s remarks follow his recent statement before the Helsinki Commission, an independent body of nine members of the US House of Representatives, nine senators and one member of the US State Department, Secretary of Defense and Commerce. The commission is intended to help formulate a policy in relation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the hearing focused on the Western “enablers” of the Putin regime. Among Browder’s recommendations was the U.S. to create a list of law firms, public relations firms and research firms involved in “allowing dictatorships and oligarchs to prosecute journalists” and barring the US government from doing business with them. companies. the abolition of “foreign powers” visas, the imposition of rules requiring lawyers and public relations firms to disclose their work to foreign governments; and the creation of new laws to protect journalists from so-called SLAPP uniforms intimidate the press.
