Putin and Russia: What does the Future Hold?
with
Bill Browder
Moderated by
Richard Salomon
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7TH, 5-6pm, ON ZOOM
The Common Good welcomes Bill Browder, who was the largest foreign investor in Russia until he was denied entry into the country in 2005 and declared a threat to national security. His crime? Exposing corruption in Russian state owned companies. He has a lot of experience dealing with Russia and particularly with Vladimir Putin. He will discuss Putin’s place on the world stage, the invasion of Ukraine, and the threat that Putin poses to the Western world order as Ukrainian defenses languish at a stalemate.
Join us with Putin’s declared #1 enemy, Bill Browder, recipient of the American Spirit Award from The Common Good in 2019 for citizen activism for his incredible advocacy work to create the Magnitsky Act, which punishes corrupt Russian officials, in conversation with Harvard-trained lawyer and CEO Richard Salomon.
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About our Speakers
William Browder is the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, Head of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign and author of Red Notice.
He was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies.
In 2008, Mr. Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes. Sergei testified against state officials involved in this fraud and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial and systematically tortured. He spent a year in prison under horrific detention conditions, was repeatedly denied medical treatment, and died in prison on November 16, 2009, leaving behind a wife and two children.
Since then, Mr. Browder has sought justice outside of Russia and started a global campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials. The United States was the first to impose these targeted sanctions with the passage of the Sergei Magnitsky Accountability Act in 2012, followed by the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act in 2016.
As a result, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Baltic states, the European Union and most recently Australia have passed their own versions of the Magnitsky Act. Mr. Browder is currently working to have similar legislation passed in other countries worldwide including New Zealand and Japan, to name a few.
Richard A. Salomon is a graduate of Carleton College and Harvard Law School and the founder and CEO of Vantage Point Consultants. Vantage Point advises corporations on ways to optimize the expenditure of legal dollars and has worked with over 400 of the Fortune 500 throughout the world. Mr. Salomon is a frequent keynote speaker to groups, including the GC100 (the Chief Legal Officers of the FTSE 100 in London) and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, as well as an occasional lecturer at Harvard Law School. Mr. Salomon is a member of the Advisory Board of the Corporate Counsel’s Guide to Law Department Management and Corporate Counsel’s Guide to Litigation Management. Mr. Salomon is also a co-author of Managing the Corporate Legal Function (2nd ed. 1995, Matthew Bender).
Mr. Salomon is involved in numerous philanthropic and social service-related activities. He is a co-founder, member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center; and a member of the Advisory Board for the Visas for Life Foundation (relating to Consul General Chiune Sugihara, who rescued his father and uncle during the Holocaust).
In addition, Mr. Salomon is on the Board of New York University’s Of Many Institute as well as on the President's Council of the Interfaith Youth Core, and the President’s Global Forum of the Auburn Theological Seminary. Mr. Salomon is a frequent public speaker at the 92nd Street Y, Temple Emanu-El, and other venues.
