Browder asks court to throw out Magnitsky libel lawsuit

Financial Times

Bill Browder, the UK-based fund manager behind the US Magnitsky Act, is asking the High Court to throw out an extraordinary libel lawsuit brought against him by a Russian he accused of being involved in Russia’s biggest tax fraud.

Mr Browder has become a hate figure for the Russian leadership after lobbying Congress to adopt the Magnitsky law last year. The law imposed sanctions on Russians allegedly involved in the $230m fraud and the death in custody of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer Mr Browder employed to investigate it.

The defamation case has been brought by Russian-based Pavel Karpov, a former policeman who is suing over allegations on a campaigning website run by Mr Browder.

Magnitsky died in a Russian jail four years ago but he was convicted of tax evasion this month in a posthumous Russian trial that drew widespread criticism in the west.

Mr Browder’s campaign has accused Mr Karpov of being involved both in the fraud and of being among police who arranged for Magnitsky’s arrest and torture in jail. Mr Karpov’s libel writ says those claims are false.

The case is bound to reignite concerns around libel tourism and that London’s courts are being used by the rich and powerful who have tenuous links with the UK but want to exploit its claimant-friendly rules.
Mr Browder alleges the Russian government is ultimately behind the case and is using it to attempt to force him to take down videos on his website.

Antony White QC, Mr Browder’s barrister, claims in court papers that Mr Karpov “does not have the means to pay for this litigation himself” and is relying on an unidentified friend.

“The court cannot be satisfied that the Russian state is not behind the claims in some way,” he alleges in written submissions.

“We don’t believe that Pavel Karpov is really fighting for his reputation,” Mr Browder told the Financial Times. “The Russians are terrified [the sanctions are] going to jump over to Europe,” he added.
Mr White also argues in court papers the lawsuit should have been brought in Russia and says Mr Karpov’s avowed purpose in the claim – to attack his inclusion in the US Magnitsky list – is “not an appropriate use” of the court.

Mr Karpov’s barrister Andrew Caldecott QC claims in his written submissions that for his client: “All the allegations are very serious and on the claimant’s case false.”

“The most serious allegations . . . are not true and are not justified: the claimant did not arrest Mr Magnitsky and did not torture or kill him,” Mr Caldecott writes. He adds that it is a “groundless” premise that Mr Karpov is acting at the behest of Russia.

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