A Few of the Finer Things - June 2018
KICKOFF SUMMER READING SEASON WITH RED NOTICE
It is once again my summer reading season and I have a fantastic book recommendation that is very timely and topical in today’s world (hat tip to my father-in-law who recommended it to me).
Red Notice by Bill Browder is a fascinating true story about how a hedge fund manager became Vladimir Putin’s number one enemy. Bill Browder graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in economics before earning an MBA from Stanford Business School. In 1989, he entered the financial sector eventually landing at Salomon Brothers in London.
Browder later went off on his own and founded Hermitage Capital Management in the mid-1990’s for the purpose of investing in Russia during the period of mass privatization after the fall of the Soviet Union. The fund grew to be the largest foreign investor in Russia and Browder earned millions of dollars in management and incentive fees.
Without giving away the story, Browder gets into an unimaginable string of events that involve corruption, murder, fear and a very passionate fight for justice.
The reason it is so topical in today’s world is that a lot of the controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s family and associates meeting with Russian oligarchs is directly tied to Browder and his tireless campaign to expose Russia’s corruption and human rights abuses. Days after I finished the book I was reading a news story that made me feel like I was still reading the book.
Red Notice reads like a sporting event…it is truly a page-turning thriller. For those who are not up for reading the book, I have also linked to a recent podcast with Bill Browder where he tells the story in fifty-one minutes.
Stay Tuned with Preet - Bill Browder podcast
– Gary Weiss, June 2018
