Guardians of the Magnitsky Myth

Exclusive: In pursuit of Russia-gate, the U.S. mainstream media embraces any attack on Russia and works to ensure that Americans don’t hear the other side of the story, as with the Magnitsky myth, reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

As Russia-gate becomes the go-to excuse to marginalize and suppress independent and dissident media in the United States, a warning of what the future holds is the blacklisting of a documentary that debunks the so-called Magnitsky case.

Hedge-fund executive William Browder in a 2015 deposition.

The emerging outlines of the broader suppression are now apparent in moves by major technology companies – under intense political pressure – to unleash algorithms that will hunt down what major media outlets and mainstream “fact-checkers” (with their own checkered histories of getting facts wrong) deem to be “false” and then stigmatize that information with pop-up “warnings” or simply make finding it difficult for readers using major search engines.

For those who believe in a meaningful democracy, those tactics may be troubling enough, but the Magnitsky case, an opening shot in the New Cold War with Russia, has demonstrated how aggressively the Western powers-that-be behave toward even well-reported investigative projects that unearth inconvenient truth.

Throughout the U.S. and Europe, there has been determined effort to prevent the American and European publics from seeing this detailed documentary that dissects the fraudulent claims at the heart of the Magnitsky story.

The documentary – “The Magnitsky Act: Behind the Scenes” – was produced by filmmaker Andrei Nekrasov, who is known as a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin but who in this instance found the West’s widely accepted, anti-Russian Magnitsky storyline to be a lie.

However, instead of welcoming Nekrasov’s discoveries as an important part of the debate over the West’s policies toward Russia, the European Parliament pulled the plug on a premiere in Brussels and – except for a one-time showing at the Newseum in Washington – very few Americans have been allowed to see the documentary.

Instead, we’re fed a steady diet of the frothy myth whipped up by hedge-fund investor William Browder and sold to the U.S. and European governments as the basis for sanctioning Russian officials. For years now, Browder has been given a free hand to spin his dog-ate-my-homework explanation about how some of his firms got involved a $230 million tax fraud in Russia.

Browder insists that some “corrupt” Russian police officers stole his companies’ corporate seals and masterminded a convoluted conspiracy. But why anyone would trust a hedge-fund operator who got rich exploiting Russia’s loose business standards is hard to comprehend.

The answer is that Browder has used his money and political influence to scare off and silence anyone who dares point to the glaring contradictions and logical gaps in his elaborate confection.

So, the hedge-fund guy who renounced his U.S. citizenship in favor of a British passport gets the royal treatment whenever he runs to Congress. His narrative just fits so neatly into the demonization of Russia and the frenzy over stopping “Russian propaganda and disinformation” by whatever means necessary.

This summer, Browder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and argued that people involved in arranging the one-time showing of Nekrasov’s documentary should be prosecuted for violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), which carries a five-year prison term.

Meanwhile, the U.S. mainstream media helps reinforce Browder’s dubious tale by smearing anyone who dares question it as a “Moscow stooge” or a “useful idiot.”

Magnitsky and Russia-gate

The Magnitsky controversy now has merged with the Russia-gate affair because Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who traveled to America to challenge Browder’s account, arranged a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and other Trump campaign advisers in June 2016 to present this other side of the story.

Film director Andrei Nekrasov, who produced “The Magnitsky Act: Behind the Scenes.”

Though nothing apparently came from that meeting, The New York Times, which always treats Browder’s account as flat fact, led its Saturday editions with a breathless story entitled, “A Kremlin Link to a Memo Taken to Trump Tower,” citing similarities between Veselnitskaya’s memo on the Magnitsky case and an account prepared by “one of Russia’s most powerful officials, the prosecutor general Yuri Y. Chaika.” Cue the spooky music as the Times challenges Veselnitskaya’s honesty.

Yet, the Times article bows to Browder as the ultimate truth-teller, including repetition of his assertion that Sergei Magnitsky was a whistleblowing “tax lawyer,” rather than one of Browder’s accountants implicated in the tax fraud.

While Magnitsky’s profession may seem like a small detail, it gets to the heart of the mainstream media’s acceptance of Browder’s depiction of Magnitsky – as a crusading lawyer who died of medical neglect in a Russian prison – despite overwhelming evidence that Magnitsky was really a clever accountant caught up in the scheme.

The “lawyer” falsehood – so eagerly swallowed by the Times and other mainstream outlets – also bears on Browder’s overall credibility: If he is lying about Magnitsky’s profession, why should anyone believe his other self-serving claims?

As investigative reporter Lucy Komisar noted in a recent article on the case, Browder offered a different description when he testified under oath in a New York court deposition in a related federal civil case.

In that adversarial setting, when Browder was asked if Magnitsky had a law degree, Browder said, “I’m not aware that he did.” When asked if Magnitsky had gone to law school, Browder answered: “No.”

Yet, the Times and the rest of the mainstream media accept that Magnitsky was a “lawyer,” all the better to mislead the American public regarding his alleged role as a whistleblower.

The rest of Browder’s story stretches credulity even more as he offers a convoluted explanation of how he wasn’t responsible for bogus claims made by his companies to fraudulently sneak away with $230 million in refunded taxes.

Rather than show any skepticism toward this smarmy hedge-fund operator and his claims of victimhood, the U.S. Congress and mainstream media just take him at his word because, of course, his story fits the ever-present “Russia bad” narrative.

The New York Times building in Manhattan. (Photo credit: Robert Parry)

Plus, these influential people have repeated the falsehoods so often and suppressed contrary evidence with such arrogance that they apparently feel that they get to define reality, which – in many ways – is what they want to do in the future by exploiting the Russia-gate hysteria to restore their undisputed role as the “gatekeepers” on “approved” information.

Which is why Americans and Europeans should demand the right to see the Nekrasov documentary and make their own judgments, possibly with Browder given a chance after the show to rebut the overwhelming evidence of his deceptions.

Instead, Browder has used his wealth and connections to make sure that almost no one gets to see the deconstruction of his fable. And The New York Times is okay with that.

[For details on the Nekrasov documentary, see Consortiumnews.com’s “A Blacklisted Film and the New Cold War.”]

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).

61 comments for “Guardians of the Magnitsky Myth

  1. Horrus
    November 3, 2017 at 12:48

    Why isn’t this movie available online if it is being kept out of theaters?

  2. October 30, 2017 at 22:44

    There has been determined effort to prevent the American and European publics from seeing this detailed documentary that dissects the fraudulent claims at the heart of the Magnitsky story.

  3. j. D. D.
    October 30, 2017 at 19:06

    Natalia Veselnitskaya herself has ties to Fusion GPS, and was given visas with the knowledge of the FBI. The whole affair smells of an FBI sting against the Trump campaign,

  4. October 30, 2017 at 05:58

    From my book, “The Killing of William Browder,” suppressed by Amazon courtesy of Browder’s lawyer Jonathan Winer (Amazon obliged, no questions asked):

    Browder’s deposition in the Prevezon case in Dec. 2015:

    Mr. Cymrot: … When you told people Mr. Magnitsky’s a lawyer, did you also tell them he never went to law school and never had a law license?
    Browder: I’m sorry. I…
    Mr. Cymrot: When you tell – how many times have you said, “Mr. Magnitsky is a lawyer?”
    Browder: I don’t know.
    Mr. Cymrot: 50? 100? 200?
    Browder: I don’t know.
    Mr. Cymrot: Many, many times, right?
    Browder: Yes
    Mr. Cymrot: Have you ever told anybody that he didn’t go to law school and didn’t have a law degree?
    Browder: No.

    There’s so much more. Scratch the surface and Browder’s hoax is hysterically childish like a high school punk contrived it.

    • Skip Scott
      October 31, 2017 at 12:41

      The fact that anyone who does scratch the surface, like yourself, is immediately attacked shows that Browder is serving the oligarchy. They wish very much to return to the rape, pillage, and plunder of Russia that they enjoyed under Yeltsin. Just like Russia-gate, they seek to control the narrative. The MSM carries their water, and people have to go to sites like this one to find the truth. Thank you very much for your work.

  5. Taras 77
    October 29, 2017 at 21:41

    This is a link to an aticle summarizing browder’s criminal activities:

    https://100r.org/2017/10/master-of-reinvention/

    (I know next to nothing about the org “100 Reporters )

    Summary might even be a tad understated but that is fine-we get enough of the clutch pearls hysteria from “the other sources.”

    • Taras 77
      October 29, 2017 at 21:43

      Need to scroll down a tad for browder’s info.

  6. October 29, 2017 at 19:36

    “The killing of William Crowder”, Alex Krainer, 2017, (a critique of Crowder’s Red Notice, was also almost immediately de-listed by Amazon due to Crowder Attorneys

  7. ranney
    October 29, 2017 at 17:57

    Robert, as always, you provide a clear presentation of the subject. I would indeed like to protest the censorship of this film as I’m sure lots of others would after reading your articles on the subject – but how does one do that???
    Who should we protest to? Is there a petition going ’round? Or is there any other way to protest? Is there a person or government agency we can protest to who has the power to get the film shown? Is there a film agency to write to? Is the film seriously banned – or is it just that people in the film industry are scared to death of some payback? If that is the case, what sort of threat is held over them?
    In any case, you can understand that those of us who would like to protest have no idea where to start. Have you any suggestions?

    • October 30, 2017 at 06:04

      There’s a serious problem somewhere in the legal framework, possibly in most western countries. A lawyer petitions a publisher to suppress some materials and threatens lawsuits and the publishers oblige. In my book’s case they claimed defamatory content but have no obligation to prove anything. The claim is sufficient. Then Amazon instructed me to work it out with Browder and his lawyers. The really scary implication of thsi is that if you ar lawyered-up elite you can effectively control what may be said and written about you and censor any content that challenges your own narrative. For most people by far fighting for their right of freedom of expression in court is prohibitive and impossible. As author, I’m forced to wrangle this right throught the legal system against far more powerful player. In effect, freedom of expression has been voided in the west, sadly.

  8. October 29, 2017 at 14:31

    From the NYT piece cited: “The matching messages point to a synchronized information campaign.”

    I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the best indicators of a propaganda campaign is when the participants are completely void of any sense of irony.

  9. October 29, 2017 at 13:43

    Can men and women who read this able to arrange interviews (via print, radio or video) of Sergei Nekrasov for the purpose of fully informing the American people on the hugely important Magnitsky controversy please do so quickly? Thank you. Peace.

    • Abe
      October 29, 2017 at 16:47

      For the purpose of fully informing the American people, it’s important to interview Andrei Nekrasov.

      Not so important to interview retired Russian athlete Sergei N.

      • October 29, 2017 at 22:26

        Abe,

        Thank you very much for the correction, in that our comment mis-named the film’s director as “Sergei” instead of correctly as Andrei. Thank you as well for the many insightful comments you make here, alongside the many other men and women followers who’ve been contributing through excellent comments at Consortium News. Thank you, again. Peace.

  10. Skip Scott
    October 29, 2017 at 12:15

    Browder is such an obvious scumbag. How anyone could watch this youtube of him attempting to dodge a subpoena in NYC, and not see him for what he is is beyond me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryVavTF6hR0

  11. Riva Enteen
    October 29, 2017 at 12:09

    I recently asked an anti-Putin Ukrainian how she would define oligarch. She said somebody with lots of money who uses it for political influence. What you call lobbyists.

  12. Lisa
    October 29, 2017 at 11:31

    Here is the link: https://archive.org/details/TheKillingOfWilliamBrowderPrintLayout6x91

    I’ve downloaded it but haven’t gotten very far. There is so much to read and investigate every day – and a life needs to be lived at the same time…

  13. October 29, 2017 at 10:07

    Jessica K. I think the book you are looking for is “The Killing of william browder” (Lower case intentional) by Alex Krainer . Do not waste your time going to amazon.

    • Lisa
      October 29, 2017 at 11:29

      This book can be downloaded free. Search for the book name and you should get the website among the first hits on google. (archive org.)

      I’ll give the complete link below (as the links may delay the comment publication).

  14. October 29, 2017 at 09:58

    We Americans didn’t want to hear the truth when our own government assassinated the Kennedys and MLK in the 1960, or when we were “secretly” saturation bombing Cambodia, or overthrowing democracy in Chile, or creating Islamic terrorists and funding them with drugs in Afghanistan, or running drugs for gun in Iran-Contra, or training our deaths squads in Guatemala and El Salvador, or killing a half million Iraqi children, because, well, “Saddam is a dictator” – the list is virtually endless of truths we Americans simply didn’t and/or don’t want to know. Collectively we’re like some grotesque ugly monster that looks into our very special magic mirror (corporate media) which rather then tell us the truth, instead tells us we are so beautiful and so exceptional and so indispensable to the world, and above all the laws that apply to mere mortals. And now more and more any attempts to remove the mirror and let the truth seep through must be endlessly suppressed by the power structure. Another example of this is the recent suppression of the English language version of the German book “Bought Journalists,” which looks at the corruption and manipulation of media in Europe by the CIA.

    https://www.globalresearch.ca/english-translation-of-udo-ulfkottes-bought-journalists-suppressed/5601857

    This level of censorship suggests a rather fragile system trying desperately to maintain control.

  15. Realist
    October 29, 2017 at 08:00

    Yeah, apparently Congress and two presidents can’t handle the truth, and figure that you can’t either.

    The folks in Washington would classify the laws of physics if that were possible.

    • Anna
      October 29, 2017 at 08:23

      “Their” “journalists:”
      “The choice of Mozgovaya as interviewer was significant to promote Browder with the Russian Jewish community abroad. Born in the Soviet Union in 1979, Mozgovaya immigrated to Israel with her family in 1990. She became a correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth in 2000. … In 2008, Mozgovaya left Yedioth Ahronoth to become the Washington Bureau Chief for Haaretz newspaper in Washington, D.C.. She was a frequent lecturer on Israel and Middle Eastern affairs at U.S. think-tanks. In 2013, Mozgovaya started working at the Voice of America.”

      Is Mozgovaya so naive and pure that she has no idea that Browder was and is a Malicious Fraud? The tribal solidarity makes Mozgovaya an eager coolaborator with the Jewish moneyed filth, the journalistic integrity is of no concern for her. https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/boss-of-slain-russian-whistleblower-to-haaretz-obama-administration-trying-to-appease-putin-1.440511
      “The Staggering Cost of Israel to Americans:” https://www.veteranstodaynews.com/2013/05/19/223756-the-staggering-cost-of-israel-to-americans/

      • Realist
        October 29, 2017 at 17:55

        I am impressed with the knowledge many readers of CN have of these events. You almost qualify as bone fide “Putin Puppets” under federal statute. I, myself, am only aware of the basic outline of the story, but most Americans, I am sure, have never even heard of Magnitsky or Browder. To them, “Browder” probably means an American actor. Most of Congress probably believes Magnitsky was one Putin’s many “political enemies” he had “assassinated” by exotic means. Can you imagine how deep this would all be buried, and yet exploited to the hilt to punish Russia, if Hillary now sat in the White House? Facts and narratives, entirely two different things. One you are denied, the other you are force fed in Amerika.

    • David G
      October 29, 2017 at 09:22

      “The folks in Washington would classify the laws of physics if that were possible.”

      It’s been tried.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik

    • mike k
      October 29, 2017 at 10:54

      “The folks in Washington would classify the laws of physics if that were possible.” Wonderful comment – that sums it all up exactly. Those who are the master criminals in our society seek to operate in complete secrecy, so that they can do whatever they wish to their unsuspecting victims, and cloak themselves in an aura of righteousness. Those who seek to expose the truth of their machinations become their most feared and hated enemies.

  16. GMC
    October 29, 2017 at 07:26

    In the interview of Magnitsky’s mother, she was asked when her son graduated from Law school. She stated that he never went to Law school – he’s an accountant . Even his Mother knew he was not honest – LOL So, what can we expect from a US government when they will kill Our President , cover it up, and hide it from those that believe in them ? Nothing ! And for the record – Putin claimed that 80% of those in control before the break-up of the Soviet Union – were Zionists and jewish oligarchs. Guess who is running the US government and has already stolen most of the public funds as Soc. Sec. etc. ? oo dah chee !

  17. Herman
    October 29, 2017 at 07:21

    When you read articles in CN and those of the commentators the evidence against their targets seems so one sided, that the truth must be somewhere in between. But then, for example, you read works by people like Pappe’ on Israel and recently Stephen Cohen on our distortions of events and so many others and you come to understand that what these folks are saying is true and then you wonder how can it change for the better when all the usual avenues of expression are guarded by the deciders. Perhaps why we have become so tortured by this reality is that we better understand it because of the information revolution, that what is always was. And perhaps we will all be saved by those who have decided we are not getting the right information. Perhaps if their algorythyms(sp?) succeed, we will all feel better, less conflicted. We will all come to understand that shock and awe in Iraq was not a human tragedy but wonderful entertainment.

    • anon
      October 29, 2017 at 08:42

      algorithms. Yes, the truth of control of US mass media and elections by oligarchy is unpleasant but essential medicine.

  18. October 29, 2017 at 07:15

    Browder is a sleaze, and the fact that he can be called a “human rights activist” in the US shows how low oligarchy and its congressional minions can go. He can’t stand that Putin and the Duma went after him, among other oligarchs and big money crooks, when the US tried to scavenge Russia (which they still want to do).

    Thank you for that information, Abe, on Browder’s past and present shady connections. And Lex, please tell me what is the book you read on the case? And who can we get to show this film in this age of suppressed truth?

  19. Joe Tedesky
    October 29, 2017 at 02:18

    Why does it even matter what we Americans think of Browder‘s dealings with said Russian officials? Not to sound uncaring of human strive or anything like that, but shouldn’t we Americans allow the Russians the right of their own laws and sovereignty to settle their own affairs? Shouldn’t we Americans be more concerned with how many to a few had died in our own American prisons last year, and why does our land of the free America have such a huge prison population?

    This Browder Road is Road we Americans should not go down. There is no reason we should, and Browder’s story is too controversial by the poor credibility of his own accusations. There is a oligarchical fist fight going on over there in Russia, and it’s former satellites, and America should let that region iron out their own differences. Read Phil Butler over at New Eastern Onion, and the Saker, these guys like Robert Parry are on to this Zionist intrusion.

    • tina
      October 29, 2017 at 04:15

      Hi joe,
      I know you guys are a bit older than I , but growing up in Munich, Germany in the 70’s and 80’s , was a lot different from you guys in the 60’s. Afghanistan 1977, Tehran, Iran 1979, The usa did so much damage, 1953 the brits and usa overthrew a democratically elected leader in Iran. Why should anyone like or welcome American troops? Since ww2, they have done nothing but wreak hatred in the world. I wish I could like this country, but I just can’t

      • Joe Tedesky
        October 29, 2017 at 05:45

        Well let me tell ya my young friend tina, the best of America isn’t being portrayed at this moment by our media to well these days. In the land of the free, are a lot of nice people tina, but they like you are in the midst these days of being pulled apart from the top down. Most of this tearing apart has been accomplished by the politicians misuse of holding up identity civil rights issues as cover for their own selfish gains. This identity issue is used, since returning to the days of the FDR New Deal is an improbable campaign promise, all because both political parties have done a fine job of destroying that very political uplifting program set in place some eighty years ago.

        So tina you don’t need to love the current government in the U.S., but to be patient a little while longer and then you may try and learn to like, or love if you will, the American individual, whoever that individual is you are fortunate enough to meet. On the other hand you could just go to Holland. Joe

      • Skip Scott
        October 29, 2017 at 12:08

        Tina-

        I am wondering why anyone anywhere would ever welcome any foreign troops in their own country. I am certain that one thing that would be a bi-partisan agreement for US citizens is that no foreign troops are welcome here, especially to “show” us how to run our country. I find it very strange that so few Americans seem to be able to make the logical jump to assume the same of other countries’ citizens.

  20. Putin Apologist
    October 29, 2017 at 01:47

    Alex Krainer’s book “The Killing of William Browder: Bill Browder’s Dangerous Deception” does a good job of exposing William Browder’s fraud. It’s a quick read about 200 pages. Amazon has banned the book but eBay has it, for now.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Killing-of-William-Browder-Deconstructing-Bill-Browders-Dangerous-Deceptio/311966014830?hash=item48a29f9d6e:g:GNMAAOSwE9RZxce5

    Here’s Browder running, in an attempt to avoid being served with a subpoena outside the Daily Show’s studios in New York. What a f***ing coward.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryVavTF6hR0

  21. Zachary Smith
    October 29, 2017 at 00:29

    Held for 11 months without trial,[4] he was, as reported by The Telegraph, “denied visits from his family” and “forced into increasingly squalid cells.” He developed gall stones, pancreatitis and calculous cholecystitis, for which he was given inadequate medical treatment during his incarceration. Surgery was ordered in June, but never performed; detention center chief Ivan P. Prokopenko later said that he “…did not consider Magnitsky sick… Prisoners often try to pass themselves off as sick, in order to get better conditions.”

    In prison without a trial. Worsening medical condition ignored. As the year time-limit approached, Magnitsky was badly beaten – probably in a last ditch attempt to force the State’s wishes on him.

    Whether guilty or innocent, this shouldn’t happen to a dog. But it happened with him, and is happening this very moment all over the fine nation we call wonderful, Exceptional, and all that. Privatized prisons who won’t waste more than an aspirin tablet on an inmate. Low paid goons who get away with darned near anything they want, even if THEY beat a prisoner to death. Or kill him by choking him. Or by denying him water.

    Nobody cares what goes on overseas – unless they can turn an individual gross miscarriage of justice into another attack on Russia. Nobody cares here, either. I still recall my shock and disgust at people who posed as “liberals” daydreaming about Carl Rove being put in the same cell with the sex-starved pervert “Big Bubba”.

    Exceptional my ***!

    • tina
      October 29, 2017 at 04:20

      and meanwhile, in Milwaukee , Wisconsin, USA another innocent person died in the county jail. Count that on five fingers, 5 people
      dead in Milwaukee County Jail is as many months. GO USA MAGA

    • Lex
      October 29, 2017 at 04:37

      There is actually no credible evidence the accused accountant was beaten, this is just part of Browder’s big story to avoid paying taxes – like he has done his entire life. Even so, the people working at the prison were all punished in Russia, yet somehow Russia is still the villain – when was the last time you heard of US prison staff being punished for negligence or abuse? I’ve read a book (also censored) about this whole affair, and it includes a lengthy section about the financial crimes visited on Russia in the 90s by people like Browder, and it amounts to crimes against humanity. Browder should be in a Russian prison, but instead his lies have caused both the US and Canada to pass punitive sanctions against an entire nation – and lead the world down a path towards war between the two largest nuclear powers. Spread the word – Browder is a charlatan and a crook, and Magnitsky was likely thrown to the wolves by him.

    • Anna
      October 29, 2017 at 08:02

      You really believe in each word of the well-known Jewish fraudster Browder?

      • Sam F
        October 29, 2017 at 08:57

        It does seem most likely that Magnitsky simply lied about medical conditions; I have known zionists to do that all their lives in yet another fake plea for special privileges. If the prison manager really did not believe him, it is poetic justice in action.

        US prisoners are in general the poor. Magnitsky was imprisoned for robbing the poor, a different matter altogether. The Magnitsky Act proves that the US Congress cares for no one, but will take bribes to pretend to care for the rich. Tell them that he was cheating zionists and they will repeal the act.

  22. Abe
    October 28, 2017 at 23:07

    “no figure in this saga has a more tangled family relationship with the Kremlin than the London-based hedge fund manager Bill Browder […]

    “there’s a reticence in his Jewish narrative. One of his first jobs in London is with the investment operation of the publishing billionaire Robert Maxwell. As it happens, Maxwell was originally a Czech Jewish Holocaust survivor who fled and became a decorated British soldier, then helped in 1948 to set up the secret arms supply line to newly independent Israel from communist Czechoslovakia. He was also rumored to be a longtime Mossad agent. But you learn none of that from Browder’s memoir.

    “The silence is particularly striking because when Browder launches his own fund, he hires a former Israeli Mossad agent, Ariel, to set up his security operation, manned mainly by Israelis. Over time, Browder and Ariel become close. How did that connection come about? Was it through Maxwell? Wherever it started, the origin would add to the story. Why not tell it?

    “When Browder sets up his own fund, Hermitage Capital Management — named for the famed czarist-era St. Petersburg art museum, though that’s not explained either — his first investor is Beny Steinmetz, the Israeli diamond billionaire. Browder tells how Steinmetz introduced him to the Lebanese-Brazilian Jewish banking billionaire Edmond Safra, who invests and becomes not just a partner but also a mentor and friend.

    “Safra is also internationally renowned as the dean of Sephardi Jewish philanthropy; the main backer of Israel’s Shas party, the Sephardi Torah Guardians, and of New York’s Holocaust memorial museum, and a megadonor to Yeshiva University, Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute and much more. Browder must have known all that. Considering the closeness of the two, it’s surprising that none of it gets mentioned.

    “It’s possible that Browder’s reticence about his Jewish connections is simply another instance of the inarticulateness that seizes so many American Jews when they try to address their Jewishness.”

    http://forward.com/news/376788/the-secret-jewish-history-of-donald-trump-jrs-russia-scandal/

    • Abe
      October 28, 2017 at 23:09

      Bill Browder with American-Israeli interviewer Natasha Mozgovaya, TV host for Voice of America.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbgNeQ_xINM

      In this 2015 tirade, Browder declared “Someone has to punch Putin in the nose” and urged “supplying arms to the Ukrainians and putting troops, NATO troops, in all of the surrounding countries”.

      The choice of Mozgovaya as interviewer was significant to promote Browder with the Russian Jewish community abroad.

      Born in the Soviet Union in 1979, Mozgovaya immigrated to Israel with her family in 1990. She became a correspondent for the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth in 2000. Although working most of the time in Hebrew, her reports in Russian appeared in various publications in Russia.

      Mozgovaya covered the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, including interviews with President Victor Yushenko and his partner-rival Yulia Timoshenko, as well as the Russian Mafia and Russian oligarchs. During the presidency of Vladimir Putin, Mozgovaya gave one of the last interviews with the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. She interviewed Garry Kasparov, Edward Limonov, Boris Berezovsky, Chechen exiles such as Ahmed Zakaev, and the widow of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

      In 2008, Mozgovaya left Yedioth Ahronoth to become the Washington Bureau Chief for Haaretz newspaper in Washington, D.C.. She was a frequent lecturer on Israel and Middle Eastern affairs at U.S. think-tanks. In 2013, Mozgovaya started working at the Voice of America.

    • Abe
      October 28, 2017 at 23:11

      Israeli banks have helped launder money for Russian oligarchs, while large-scale fraudulent industries, like binary options, have been allowed to flourish here.

      A May 2009 diplomatic cable by the US ambassador to Israel warned that “many Russian oligarchs of Jewish origin and Jewish members of organized crime groups have received Israeli citizenship, or at least maintain residences in the country.”

      The United States estimated at the time that Russian crime groups had “laundered as much as $10 billion through Israeli holdings.”

      In 2009, then Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara charged 17 managers and employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims for defrauding Germany 42.5 million dollars by creating thousands of false benefit applications for people who had not suffered in the Holocaust.

      The scam operated by creating phony applications with false birth dates and invented histories of persecution to process compensation claims. In some cases the recipients were born after World War II and at least one person was not even Jewish.

      Among those charged was Semyon Domnitser, a former director of the conference. Many of the applicants were recruited from Brooklyn’s Russian community. All those charged hail from Brooklyn.

      When a phony applicant got a check, the scammers were given a cut, Bharara said. The fraud which has been going on for 16 years was related to the 400 million dollars which Germany pays out each year to Holocaust survivors.

      Later, in November 2015, Bharara’s office charged three Israeli men in a 23-count indictment that alleged that they ran a extensive computer hacking and fraud scheme that targeted JPMorgan Chase, The Wall Street Journal, and ten other companies.

      According to prosecutors, the Israeli’s operation generated “hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal profit” and exposed the personal information of more than 100 million people.

      Despite his service as a useful idiot propagating the Magnitsky Myth, Bharara discovered that for Russian Jewish oligarchs, criminals and scam artists, the motto is “Nikogda ne zabyt’!” Perhaps more recognizable by the German phrase: “Niemals vergessen!”

    • Abe
      October 28, 2017 at 23:19

      William Browder is a “shareholder activist” the way Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a “human rights activist”.

      Both loudly bleat the “story” of their heroic “fight for justice” for billionaire Jewish oligarchs: themselves.

      http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.686922.1447865981!/image/78952068.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_625/78952068.jpg

      Any real investigation of Russia-Gate will draw international attention towards Russian Jewish corruption in the FIRE (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) sectors, and lead back to Israel.

      • Anna
        October 29, 2017 at 07:58

        Thank you. Who would expect all these crimes and lies from a progeny of a Jewish communist Browder!

        This is priceless: “The United States estimated at the time that Russian crime groups had “laundered as much as $10 billion through Israeli holdings.” In 2009, then Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara charged 17 managers and employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims for defrauding Germany 42.5 million dollars by creating thousands of false benefit applications for people who had not suffered in the Holocaust.”

      • Lois Gagnon
        October 29, 2017 at 14:56

        Good info, but not surprising. Covering up the syndicate’s global crime spree is priority #1. If we view all events through this lens, it all makes perfect sense.

    • MrK
      October 29, 2017 at 00:06

      More on Beny and Danny Steinmetz and Dany Gertler here:

      Chloe’s Blood Diamonds
      http://www.globalresearch.ca/chloe-s-blood-diamond/7423

      • October 29, 2017 at 12:35

        Interesting link,…thanks, MrK

    • October 29, 2017 at 12:05

      Abe, thanks for the informative backgrounder. The Goldberg link is also interesting, although I note he signs on to the Russian Hacking myth and the “Magnitsky murder” theory.

    • Abe
      October 29, 2017 at 12:20

      “First they went after…”

      In video interview featured on Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s website, Browder compared Khodorkovsky and himself to victims of the Nazi regime
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=21&v=0KvFQHLIvWI [minutes 4:10-4:50

    • Abe
      October 29, 2017 at 12:50

      Leading pro-Israel senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman were key promoters of the Magnitsky Act, which was signed into law in 2012.

      Browder then published a book, Red Notice, leading to a string of TV appearances.

      Outside the Daily Show’s studios in New York on 3 February 2015, Browder was served a subpoena.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryVavTF6hR0

      Browder tried to refuse to accept the subpoena and fled.

      United States Federal Judge, Thomas Griesa of the Southern District of New York issued a ruling that compels Browder to travel to New York for a deposition.

      Browder’s lawyer, Randy Mastro, a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP said Browder “does not have to consent to a deposition.” He claimed that Browder is living and working in England and is currently carrying a British passport. Browder is a former U.S. citizen.

      In his ruling, Judge Griesa emphasized that Browder must comply with the subpoena in New York because he conducts his business in the city on a “reasonably regular basis.”

      Browder’s lawyer argued that the hedge fund manager was unable to attend in a deposition because there are “credible threats” to his personal safety. In response, the judge pointed out that the threats did not prevent Browder from going to different cable news networks to promote his book.

      The federal court’s order for Browder was connected to the civil case filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan against Russian businessman Denis Katsyv.

      Browder had urged prosecutors to file lawsuits against Katsyv, who denied the allegations against him. The lawyer representing Katsyv repeatedly tried to serve subpoenas to Browder as the primary source of information in the complaint against the Russian businessman.

      Browder opted to run away instead of complying with the subpoena.

      • Taras 77
        October 29, 2017 at 21:23

        Carden, the senator from AIPAC was and is a key supporter!

        Thanks, Abe, for your informative posts. The stench on this one takes the Israeli lapdogs in congress to new lows. Congress is either willfully uninformed or totally ignorant on the facts in this case, maybe a distinction without a difference.

        • Abe
          October 30, 2017 at 17:19

          Congress is either willfully uninformed nor totally ignorant…

          They’re bought and paid for by the pro-Israel Lobby.

    • October 30, 2017 at 23:40

      @Abe its called the Kosher Nostra. Exceeds anything the Neapolitans or Sicilians have managed. Most people relate syndicated crime to Southern Italians . We can thank Hollywood for that and that says it all . Lansky and Co have been running the mob for years but it’s we southern Italians that get the label of mobster. Russian jewish mobsters are behind most of the crimes of graft ,drugs and prostitution ,human trafficking, organ trafficking . You name it. They came to the forefront starting from the deliberate Balkanising of the FDRY Yugoslavia and the implosion of the USSR under Yeltsin they grew exponentially. The Godfather of this international Ashkenazi judaic crime organisation is Semion Mogilevich born in the Ukraine in the 40’s. This guy makes Capone and Lucky Luciano look like choir boys., but everybody relates mobsters to these southern Italians how bizarre that the truth is always something else.

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  24. October 28, 2017 at 21:48

    It seems the neo-liberal establishment in the West is ready to take in any Russian dissident seeking refuge while the victims of Western aggression are denied asylum.
    http://en.rfi.fr/culture/20171019-russian-artist-detained-over-paris-bank-blaze

    • Sam F
      October 29, 2017 at 09:10

      Yes, Congress measures human worth in bribes: more from rich immigrants than from poor refugees. We are fortunate to have Mr. Parry expose the corruption of oligarchy and its control of mass media and elections.

      Those who would like to petition the NYT to make Robert Parry their senior editor may do so here:
      https://www.change.org/p/new-york-times-bring-a-new-editor-to-the-new-york-times?recruiter=72650402&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink
      While Mr. Parry may prefer independence, and we all know the NYT ownership makes it unlikely, and the NYT may try to ignore it, it is instructive to them that intelligent readers know better journalism when they see it. A petition demonstrates the concerns of a far larger number of potential or lost subscribers.

      • October 29, 2017 at 11:54

        Yes, Sam F, I signed on to that one some time ago…I’m sure the NYT has a waste basket somewhere that is full of “Russian trolls”.

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