--- title: I'm Bill Browder. Putin Made a Mistake When Talking About Me description: Bill Browder writes for TIME about the mistake Vladimir Putin when trying to make a deal for him with Donald Trump at the Helsinki summit canonical: https://time.com/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump/ author: Bill Browder article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-17T02:32:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:17.878Z article:section: Ideas og:title: I'm Bill Browder. Putin Made a Big Mistake When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump og:description: Even though the U.S. President called it "an incredible offer" og:url: https://time.com/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fb2096b60b2e90/6989358022fb8515d8e262a2/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-russia-donald-trump-summit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Bill Browder, Vladimir Putin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: I'm Bill Browder. Putin Made a Big Mistake When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump twitter:description: Even though the U.S. President called it "an incredible offer" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5fb2096b60b2e90/6989358022fb8515d8e262a2/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-russia-donald-trump-summit.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # I'm Bill Browder. Here's the Biggest Mistake Putin Made When Trying to Get Access to Me Through Trump > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: Both Trump and Putin Just Denied Russian Meddling in the 2016 Election. Here's What They Said [Watch (HLS stream): Both Trump and Putin Just Denied Russian Meddling in the 2016 Election. Here's What They Said](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cWwhbNrF.m3u8) (2:38)  _Published 2018-07-16. Trump resisted when asked Monday to condemn Russian meddling in the election. Instead, he complained about a Democratic National Committee computer server and emails belonging to Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he defeated to win the presidency._ by [Bill Browder](https://time.com/author/bill-browder/) ## Bill Browder Jul 17, 2018 2:32 AM UTC  William Browder, chief executive officer of Hermitage Capital Management, takes his seat as he arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled 'Oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections' on July 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. William Browder, chief executive officer of Hermitage Capital Management, takes his seat as he arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled 'Oversight of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and Attempts to Influence U.S. Elections' on July 27, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Bill Browder](https://time.com/author/bill-browder/) ## Bill Browder Jul 17, 2018 2:32 AM UTC I wasn’t watching [the Donald Trump–Vladimir Putin press conference](http://time.com/5339848/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit-transcript/) from Helsinki. But when my phone started burning up with messages, I knew something was going on. I quickly discovered that [Putin had mentioned me by name](http://time.com/5340167/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-bill-browder/). No journalist had asked about me. He just brought me up out of the blue. Putin offered to allow American investigators to interview the [12 Russian intelligence agents just indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller](http://time.com/5338172/rod-rosenstein-russian-hacking-charges/) in exchange for allowing Russians to have access to me and those close to me. This is no idle threat. For the last ten years, I’ve been trying to avoid getting killed by Putin’s regime, and there already exists [a trail of dead bodies](http://time.com/5334354/bill-browder-trump-putin/) connected to its desire to see me dead. Amazingly, Trump stood next to him, appearing to nod approvingly. He even later said that he considered it “an incredible offer.” I’m lodged so firmly under Putin’s skin because I’m the person responsible for getting the [Magnitsky Act](https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Programs/Documents/pl112%5F208.pdf) passed in the United States in 2012\. This is a law that allows the U.S. government to freeze assets and ban visas of human-rights violators around the world. Some of these human-rights violators had killed Sergei Magnitsky, my Russian lawyer who was murdered in a Moscow jail for uncovering a massive $230 million government-corruption scheme that we’ve since traced to known Putin cronies. In essence, Putin received some of the proceeds of this crime, and he is terrified that the Magnitsky Act could be applied to his offshore fortune, which is [probably one of the largest amassed in modern times](http://time.com/money/4641093/vladimir-putin-net-worth/). The Helsinki summit is not the first time my name has come up at a Putin press conference. Back in 2006 at the G-8 Conference in St. Petersburg, a young reporter for [the Moscow _Times_](http://old.themoscowtimes.com/sitemap/free/2006/7/article/putin-has-no-answers-in-browder-visa-case/203711.html) asked why I’d been denied an entry visa to Russia and declared a threat to national security, all with no explanation. She pointed out that I was the biggest foreign investor in the Russian stock market, and that the prime minister of the United Kingdom had asked Putin about my situation earlier that day. Putin frowned. “To be honest, I don’t know why this particular person has been refused entry to Russia. I can imagine that this person has broken the laws of our country, and if others do the same we’ll refuse them entry, too.” “This person.” Putin almost never utters the names of his enemies — except for mine, which he lately seems to utter at every opportunity. To my mind, this can only mean that he is seriously rattled. Since 2012, Putin has made it perhaps his largest foreign policy priority to have the Magnitsky Act repealed. But none of his efforts have worked. Not only has it not been repealed, it’s spread to six additional countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, the Baltic states and Gibraltar. There are eight other countries with Magnitsky Acts on deck: Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, South Africa and Ukraine. The Magnitsky Act is going viral, and [countries that have Magnitsky Acts](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-sanctions-52-human-rights-violators-under-new-magnitsky-law/article36825441/) are [sanctioning Putin’s cronies](https://www.treasury.gov/ofac/downloads/sdnlist.pdf), who I imagine soon will be sanctioned by other countries as well. In addition, the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign has investigated and found the $230 million that Sergei Magnitsky exposed and was killed over. [There are](https://euobserver.com/magnitsky/120637) now [a number](https://www.wsj.com/articles/danish-bank-under-money-laundering-probe-in-france-1507824786) of live [law-enforcement investigations](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-17/a-russian-lawyers-death-triggers-a-global-money-hunt) around [the world](https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-02-11/magnitsky-affair-moldova-investigating-money-laundering-scheme-linked-russian-tax) determining just [who benefited](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-prevezon/u-s-judge-orders-russian-owned-company-to-pay-6-million-settlement-idUSKBN1FM2FJ) from [this crime](https://www.cnn.com/2017/11/02/world/russia-money-laundering-deadline-missed/index.html). These have resulted in tens of millions of dollars of frozen assets. Furthermore, these investigations don’t only put at risk the beneficiaries of this crime, but the benificiaries of many other similar crimes. These people are ready to kill to keep their money. Losing it would be devastating. Putin’s latest allegation that I donated $400 million to Hillary Clinton is so ludicrous and untrue that it falls into delusion. I’ve never made a political donation to Hillary Clinton or any other political candidate. It’s in the same category as other Russian government allegations against me: [they accused me of being a serial killer](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/19/bill-browder-putin-accuses-three-murders-campaigner-sergei-magnitsky); [they accused me](https://www.ft.com/content/1eb38914-2ca4-11e6-a18d-a96ab29e3c95) of being a CIA/MI6 agent determined to [destroy the Russian government](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/22/world/europe/russia-sergei-magnitsky-william-browder.html); and they accused me of somehow [stealing $4.8 billion of IMF money](http://semantic-pace.net/tools/pdf.aspx?doc=aHR0cDovL2Fzc2VtYmx5LmNvZS5pbnQvbncveG1sL1hSZWYvWDJILURXLWV4dHIuYXNwP2ZpbGVpZD0yMDA4NCZsYW5nPUVO&xsl=aHR0cDovL3NlbWFudGljcGFjZS5uZXQvWHNsdC9QZGYvWFJlZi1XRC1BVC1YTUwyUERGLnhzbA==&xsltparams=ZmlsZWlkPTIwMD) back in the 1990s that was destined for the Russian Treasury. These guys have seriously lost their cool and are beginning to make mistakes. The biggest mistake that Putin made in his offer today to effectively swap me for the 12 Russian agents is that he went to the wrong head of state. Although I was born in America, I emigrated to the United Kingdom 29 years ago and am a British citizen. If he really wants me, he better go talk to Theresa May, who might have a few choice words for him after Russian agents spread the military-grade nerve agent [Novichok](http://time.com/5330750/novichok-nerve-agent-salisbury-dawn-sturgess-charlie-rowley/) across the cathedral town of Salisbury, England. ## Transcript Once again president Trump mentioned the issue of the so called interference of Russia when the American elections. And I had to literate things I said several times including during out personal context that the Russian state has never interfered and it's not going to interfere Into internal American affairs, including election process. During today's meeting, I addressed directly with President Putin the issue of Russian interference in our elections. I felt this was a message best delivered in person, spent a great deal of time talking about it. And President Putin may very well want to address it and very strongly. Because he feels very strongly about it and he has an interesting idea. To say it one time again and I say it all the time, there was no collusion. I didn't even know the President. There was nobody to collude with. There was no collusion with the campaign and every time you hear these you know all of these twelve and fourteen and frankly they admit these are not people involved in the campaign. But to the average reader maybe it does. It doesn't. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it's kept us apart. It's kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the floor. So far, that I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they're gonna have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. It was a clean campaign. Zero collusion. And it has had a negative impact upon the relationship of the two largest nuclear powers in the world. We have 90 % of nuclear power between the two countries. It's ridiculous, it's ridiculous what's going on with the probe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5340545/bill-browder-vladimir-putin-magnitsky-act-donald-trump/"},"headline":"I'm Bill Browder. 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