And he retaliated by banning the adoption of Russian orphans by American families right after the Magnitsky Act was passed, which is the most heinous thing he could possibly do because orphans were often the sick orphans that were being adopted and cared for in America and who would often die in Russian orphanages. So he was effectively sentencing his own orphans to death to protect his own corrupt officials. And he made repealing the Magnitsky Act and stopping it from spreading to be his single largest foreign policy priority.
And that idea of freezing the assets and banning the visas became known as the Magnitsky Act. And I first took this idea to Washington. And I took it to two senators, Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, Democrat, and Senator John McCain of Arizona, Republican. I told them the story that I’ve just shared with you today, and I said, “Can we freeze their assets and ban their visas?” And they said yes. And that became known as the Magnitsky Act. And in Washington, there are very few things that people agree on. There’s a partisan divide on almost anything. But the one thing they could agree on was that Russian torturers and murderers shouldn’t be able to come to the United States. And in November of 2012, the Magnitsky Act passed the Senate, 92 to 4. It passed the House of Representatives with 89%. And on December 14, 2012, the Magnitsky Act became a federal law. Dan Ferris: Wow. You can’t bring a guy back from the dead, but you sure had a big impact. So, where does it stand now, Bill? Are you still working on this? Or will this ever be behind you, do you think? Bill Browder: So, yeah, I’m working on it big-time. The most immediate impact of the passage of the Magnitsky Act was that Putin went out of his mind. He got so angry because this is the first time that anyone has sort of stuck it back at him. Everybody just cowers in fear with this guy. And all of a sudden, we hit him back hard. And he’s definitely a tough guy, but he’s not nearly as tough as he tries to make himself out to be. And all of a sudden, we showed his weakness.
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In Washington, there are very few things that people agree on. There’s a partisan divide on almost anything. But the one thing they could agree on was that Russian torturers and murderers shouldn’t be able to come to the United States.
And you may remember a famous meeting where a Russian female lawyer went to the Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, to meet with Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort. At that meeting was a representative of Putin, Natalia Veselnitskaya, that was going to meet with Donald Trump Jr. to ask that if his father becomes president – because this is before he was elected – could they repeal the Magnitsky Act? Now, I’m happy to say that the meeting didn’t bear fruit, nor have any of their other efforts. The Magnitsky Act has now been passed in
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