Red Notice: A True Story Of High Finance, Murder, And One Man's Fight For Justice, Browder - B +

                                               Thanks to Mike Connell and Wendell Erwin for recommending this superb book. I generally avoid stories of Russian perfidy and memoirs, but this is very well written, tells a tale that sounds like a fictional thriller and isn't filled with too many self-serving justifications. Browder is an Anglo-American investor with a deep family connection to the countries of eastern Europe. He managed to translate that connection into a ground-floor, early 90's business opportunity in Moscow. He formed Hermitage Capital in order to invest in the privatization of Russia. He was wildly successful and even managed to survive the 90% drop in Russian markets after the 1999 sovereign default. He had some luck exposing thievery at Gazprom and decided to take on the oligarchs. His interests were aligned with Putin's until 2004, when Putin imprisoned the owners of Lukoil, and the author contends, started lining his pockets with the cooperation of the oligarchs. A year later, Browder was kicked out of Russia. Next came a raid on his Moscow office and charges of tax evasion. His lawyer Serge Magnitsky died in a Moscow jail and both Browder and the deceased Magnitsky were convicted in absentia. The trial and convictions were right out of the 1930's and were deplored around the world. Interpol wouldn't arrest Browder, the European Parliament criticized the Russians and the US passed the Magnitsky Act, blacklisting the  Russians behind Magnitsky's death. Browder is now a human rights activist based in his hometown of London.