Stop the Untouchables. Justice for Sergei Magnitsky.

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.