Magnitsky Act
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| Interest of | Bill Browder |
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The International Magnitsky Act is a sanctions regime created by the Obama Administration in 2012 at the behest of mafia-oligarch lawyer Bill Browder. It massively expands the ability of nation states to unilaterally sanction and freeze the assets of individuals and limit their travel without due process of law. Independent journalist Lee Stranahan has called it the "HSBC Bailout Act." [1]This refers to the Hong-Kong Shanghai Bank of China, which had money laundering operations going back to the Opium Wars of the 19th Century and took over much of the work of BCCI. HSBC had been ordered by the Russian courts to pay a substantial fine for money laundering, and the Act enshrined official opposition to this fine and similar court decisions into American - and later international - law.
The first uses of the act were to impose sanctions on those who had picked up Russian assets formerly owned by Browder, Browder's clients, and Mikhail Khordokovsky. In 2016, the incoming Trump Administration allied with US mafia figures to ensure the Magnitsky act would continue to be the official policy of the US and its allies.[2]
The act is named after Sergei Magnitsky, a mafia-oligarch lawyer and accountant, and was passed under a false narrative pushed by Browder that Magnitsky was a whistleblower. In fact, Magnitsky was a willing accomplice in crime but also died in a Russian prison due to medical neglect.[3]. The focus on Magnitsky and his fate, Browder and his clients, or human rights, is in many ways a sideshow from the broader authorization various Magnitsky acts provide to governments to take unilateral sanctions to further the interests of organized crime and cronyism allied with government figures and intelligence agencies.
In the UK
On 21 February 2017 the UK House of Commons unanimously passed an amendment to the Criminal Finances Bill inspired by the Magnitsky Act that would allow the government to freeze the assets of international human rights violators in the UK.[4]
On 1 May 2018, the UK House of Commons, without opposition, added the "Magnitsky amendment" to the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Bill that would allow the British government to impose sanctions on people deemed to have committed gross human rights violations.[5]
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:The Magnitsky Myth Exploded | blog post | 16 September 2019 | Craig Murray | Craig Murray: I am offering a bottle of Lagavulin to anybody who can find me an honest and fair MSM report of this judgement reflecting that the whole story was built on lies. |
| File:Death of Sergey Magnitskey-Firestone Duncan.pdf | Document | Sergei Magnitsky | Death notification about the demise of Sergei Magnitsky by Firestone Duncan which spells his name incorrectly. |
References
- ↑ "Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act Under a Microscope"
- ↑ The Inconsistencies of Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act
- ↑ https://www.newcoldwar.org/film-andrei-nekrasov-magnitsky-act-behind-scenes/
- ↑ "UK House of Commons Passes the Magnitsky Asset Freezing Sanctions"
- ↑ "UK lawmakers back 'Magnitsky amendment' on sanctions for human rights abuses"
