Bill Browder

American-British financier and activist

Bill Browder is an American hedge fund manager who was at one point the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. The primary aim of his investment was shareholder rights activism; Browder took on large Russian companies such as Gazprom, Surgutneftegaz and Unified Energy Systems. In 2005, he was denied entry to Russia, which declared him to be a threat to national security due to this activism. Browder maintains that this was actually because he had exposed corruption in the country. In the years since, following the death of his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, Putin accused Browder of three murders, which was widely regarded as an attempt to discredit him. Browder has since developed a reputation for his anti-corruption campaigning.