Hermitage Capital Lawyer

Hedge Fund's Lawyer Dies in Moscow Jail

More troubling news in the dispute between Michael Browder's Hermitage Capital and Russia: the hedge fund's lawyer has died in a Moscow jail. The attorney was advising Hermitage Capital in its four year battle with the Russian Federation over allegations of theft and fraud when he was arrested and put in jail. Sergey Magnitskiy was refused bail and was detained for a year without trial. According to Hermitage, he was not allowed to speak with his children or wife for the whole detention.

The lawyer, a father of two, had written a 40-page complaint describing a serious medical condition that developed during his time in prison, but received no response, Hermitage said.

Hermitage has filed law suits and sent letters to Russian anti-corruption authorities, naming top-ranked officials and their role in the alleged tax scam. Browder's Russian visa was revoked in 2005 despite his company having once been the country's largest foreign investor.

The Russian interior ministry is seeking to have Browder returned to Russia for questioning. The executive was placed on the ministry's international wanted list on charges of tax evasion.

According to the fund, criminals used a network of corrupt lawyers, police and judges to fake transactions making it appear that three profit-making Hermitage subsidiaries had turned a profit into losses – for which they demanded a tax rebate. The new owners of the stolen companies received Russia's biggest ever rebate within two days, Hermitage says. Source

Related to: Hermitage Capital Russia

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