Following his explosive New York Times bestseller 'Red Notice', Bill Browder returns with ‘Freezing Order: A True Story of Russian Money Laundering, State-Sponsored Murder, and Surviving Vladimir Putin’s Wrath’ – another fascinating non-fiction thriller chronicling how he exposed Vladimir Putin’s campaign to steal and launder hundreds of billions of dollars and kill anyone who stood in his way. A graduate of Stanford Business School, Bill Browder worked as a financier in Russia from the late 1990s, at a time when oligarchs were profiting massively from the privatisation that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was initially pro-Putin, as the newly elected Russian leader promised to stamp out corruption. Before long, however, it became clear Putin’s true intentions were the opposite. Browder’s interference in corrupt corporate practices led to him being expelled from Russia by Putin in 2005, as a “threat to national security”. While investigating a $230 million tax fraud perpetrated against his company, Browder’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was arrested, and subsequently tortured and killed by Russian authorities after 11 months in police custody. In response, Browder campaigned for the creation of the Magnitsky Act, legislation to freeze the assets of those involved in human rights violations around the globe. He also continued to call for investigation into Russian corruption, making himself some very powerful enemies. In February 2022, Daily Maverick editor-at-large Richard Poplak and Browder discussed the character of Putin, his recent invasion of Ukraine and the effect this will have on South Africa and the rest of the world in a Daily Maverick webinar. Read the excerpt of his book below: The Aspen Stakeout SUMMER 2014 A few weeks later, after a business lunch near Parliament, I strolled along Birdcage Walk by St. James’s Park, reflexively checking my BlackBerry. Among a backlog of messages was one from Paul Monteleoni. I’d barely heard from him since the US government filed their case against Prevezon. He was blunt: “Call me. Urgent.” I’d never received this kind of message from Paul before. I ducked into a doorway and punched in his number. He picked up almost before it had a chance to ring. “Hi, Paul. It’s Bill. What’s going on?” “Oh, hi.” He took a moment before continuing, as if he had to step out of a meeting. “I, uh, I don’t want to alarm you, and I can’t be a hundred percent sure about this, but we’ve received intelligence that some individuals are soliciting funds to hire a team ...