He talked about the law that requires people representing interest of form powers to disclose the relationship. He testified that the lawyer who met with donald trump junior was heading russian efforts to get sanctions repealed. The hearing is just under two hours. I reconvene our hearing, i gave my Opening Statement yesterday. I dont have anything to add to it, but ive got a few housekeeping things to take care of. Im disappointed that the rule was invoked to shut down this hearing before we could hear all the testimony yesterday. He has traveled from overseas to be here to testify about the russians efforts to manipulate our government this is an important topic to discuss. If the other party is truly serious about getting to the bottom of russian interference, they should hear him out. Mr. Browder, i thank you very much for changing your travel plans to be here this committee very much appreciate your willingness. Going to choose the items you. They allege they uncovered the 2 billiondollar corruption scheme from the venezuelan government and laundering money to one Company Created that he will call the information and cleaners, and individual were going to hit on the corruption. The second item in the article all will in the third item is the New York Times article will clean. [inaudible] will describe the activities of russianamerican lobbyist and will also without objection those will be included in the record. I would like to introduce into record constituent who would like to submit this engine written testimony about his experience for the record without objection, he may do so within one week from today. I also want to insert a letter from Airline Pilots association alleging that the u. S. Travel association has not properly registered. It alleges the association engaged in Political Activities on behalf of airlines in the middle east, so without objection, i will do that and now i will let the Ranking Member make any statement she has and i will introduce and swear our witness. Go ahead. Thank you very much german. Today our committee continues its examination of the Foreign Agents registration act. Yesterday we heard from government experts, representatives from the Justice Department and the fbi, along with d. O. J. That discussion, i believe confirmed there is a significant problem with under enforcement of the law. Individuals engaged in Political Activities on behalf of Foreign Government and interest in the United States do not register in a way that works with the Justice Department. Thats because right now there are no real consequences for failing to register. I think we should change that. As we also heard yesterday, the Justice Department relies heavily on finding out about potential violations and monitoring and other public information. At times they received complaints alleging that individuals or companies have failed to register their lobbying. Today we will hear from one such individual. I do not know mr. Browder, but my standing from july 2015, he filed a complaint alleging that a number of individuals failed to register their lobbying efforts against the magnets the act. Among those named in his campaign is a russian lawyer. As we all know she met with the Trump Campaign on june 9, 2016. She had understanding that she would offer incriminating information on hillary clinton. It is my understanding that he is very familiar with this lawyer and another russian figure who attended the g9 meeting because of their work to oppose those that. While she does not have firsthand knowledge of what happened on june 9, his experience with these individuals and his broader understanding of how a russian government operates may advance the committees understanding of what motivated at meeting, at least i hope it will. I look forward to hearing from a witness today and with that i feel that. Thank you. I will first introduce mr. Browder, an Investment Firm based in london. Members of organized crime stalled Corporate Identity of somebody and use them fraudulently. They filed a criminal complaint with russian Law Enforcement. In response russian government assigned the case to the very russian officials involved in the crime. With of Vladimir Putin campaign im the founder and ceo of permitted Capital Management my firm was once the largest Foreign Investment adviser of russia and in the capacity we discovered massive corruption and companies that we invested in and to fight that corruption we started to research how the oligarchs went about doing the stealing and then share their research with the international media. The naming and shaming campaign had some positive effect on the share price of the companys and made russia a better place as you can exposing millions of dollars of malfeasance upset those who are benefiting from that and they had very close connections with the putin regime. November 2005 i was expelled from the country and declared a threat to National Security and june june 2007 my Moscow Office was raided by 25 officers from the ministry and 25 others from my American Law Firm they sought to get those stamps seals certificate for our Investment Holding companies and with those stamps and seals and the tickets they could look at Corporate Identity theft at the point i hired the smartest lawyer that i knew in russia that was 35 years old to investigate who did what and how we could stop them. Sergei went out and investigated and can back with the astounding conclusion that the purpose was to steal our assets which they did not succeed however they did succeed in stealing 230 million of taxes paid to the russian government from the russian government so the theft was not of my eight or my firms money but the russian governments money 230 million the largest tax refund fraud in the history of russia. Saturday and i were convinced this must be a rogue operation that putin was a nationalist and would not have allowed his own officials to steal from his own country we thought if we brought that to the attention of the highest authorities then the good guys would get the bad guys so we wrote criminal complaints to every branch of the criminal Justice System and i gave sworn testimony to their version of the fbi and waited for the good guys to get the bad guys. But into russia there are no good guys. On november 24, 2008 Sergei Magnitsky testified again so save officials seeking to his home and arrested him and put him in pretrial detention for he was tortured to withdraw testimony to put a missile with 14 inmates and imposed sleep deprivation no heat and no windowpanes where he nearly froze to death and though twilit with a sewage in the floor and move them in the middle of the night the purpose was to get him to withdraw his testimony and signed a false confession they did so of my instruction but he refused. Because he refused after six months his health deteriorated with terrible pains in his stomach have lost 40 pounds and diagnosed with pancreatitis and gallstones in needed operation in august 1st. One week prior they abruptly moved him from representative medical facilities to maximumsecurity prison with no medical facilities his health completely broke down went into constant agonizing your piercing pain and they refuse treatment. Sergei magnitsky and his lawyers wrote desperate request for attention they were all ignored or denied in writing. After a couple of months of this horrible torture on november 16 he went into Critical Condition and on that night the authorities did not want responsibility so they put have in an ambulance with medical facilities but instead of putting him in the emergency room they put him in isolation changed to a bed of the navy him until he died. Sergei magnitsky was 37 years old with a wife and two children. I got the news of his murder the morning of the 17th and it has been my lifes work to get justice for Sergei Magnitsky was impossible to get in russia they exonerate it in gear for motions to those that are the most composite that i came here to washington i told senator carded and senator mccain the same story in they came up with the magnitsky act to ban the the set of those who killed Sergei Magnitsky so that he ted past and was signed into law december 14th 2012. President putin was infuriated and in retaliation and the adoption of russian orphans by american families. The reason why he took such a drastic step was because Vladimir Putin was one of the beneficiaries of the 230 million fraud we have since traced some of that money to an account of someone in the Panama Papers to be one of his comedies. But mayor putin was so infuriated he put it Sergei Magnitsky on trial three years after they killed him the first trial after his death the first industry and meet as a codefendant and those that have been killed in connection with this there are seven people who have died from murder or suspicious circumstance years for example, boris is one of the allies fighting for justice in coming to European Parliament to lobby for the magnitsky act was murdered and his protege was poisoned with in one image of his life and was in in Critical Condition with organ failure and in a coma and barely survived in the Sergei Magnitsky lawyer was thrown off a balcony of the fourth floor before he was close to testify and i have had threats of my own life. Death threats, not just violence the Political Violence coming in the form of a Massive Campaign that the russian government launched here in washington t6 Natalia Veselnitskaya organize them to tell that false story that Sergei Magnitsky was not murdered to have the magnitsky act repealed she did lead to chris cooper and ron in a number of other people and the purpose was to withdraw the Sergei Magnitsky need from the magnitsky act. Essentially it is a campaign to effectively cover up a murder is also. You can still finish your statement. Im sorry i have gone over. We will not stop you but what year did Natalia Veselnitskaya come to the country . 2014. Continue. I am just about done. In addition to be morally reprehensible also nine of them registered as Foreign Agents under the Foreign Agents registration act and so ive put together a complete to the department of justice where we listed what they did and who did what in the fact there were not registered with the Foreign Agents registration act or fara. Slave here today to tell the story because i believe the fact that they could run around of the putin agenda without any transparency needs to stop in the future in the rules governing this should be strengthened. Thanks for your testimony now we will have seven minute rounds of discussion we will cut that back at five minutes because of the twohour rule. So mr. Browder he said the russian lawyer meeting with the Trump Campaign officials had hired the simpson through the of law firm of baker for the last Year Campaign against you and Sergei Magnitsky said simpson contacted a number of major newspapers to spread false information and he told the media really did some research with pop propaganda and publicity work so it is important if mr. Simpson was pushing negative information so i asked several questions could you explain exactly how mr. Simpson manipulated the media and undermined the the magnitsky act . When simpson was a journalist as magnitsky act was debated in congress the story he was pitching was that Sergei Magnitsky was not murdered but died of natural causes. He was not a whistle blower but a criminal and therefore it should be repealed. That was the story he was pitching i know he was because the journalists came to ask about it. But he was trying to get that story published and that is not Litigation Support and for me to see how it could be Litigation Support because had they been written the he was supposed to be reporting any juror who read that would have been disqualified for being told the jury so only could have been for the purpose to manipulate and try to change the testimony. With these group of agents were they working together in a court made a campaign . Or separate isolated efforts . And what cases to have been leaving for those efforts were in the interest of the russian government . This entire effort was under the auspices under Natalia Veselnitskaya she was is organizing, high resource, paid for by her client in russia up for good they were paying the bills the patriarch of the family is a senior russian Government Official a former transport minister currently Vice President of russian and railways and a Senior Member of coup regime. To bnd holdings . The work they were doing to repeal the magnitsky act could not have had eddied benefit because the Holding Company was a bird investigation for moneylaundering statutes. Even if they were reset successful to repeal the magnitsky act it would not have had any bearing on the case on the department of justice so it is hard to see that could have been supported the late litigation as opposed to changing the policy. There are media reports alleging the it Sergei Magnitsky money went to a Russian Investment Bank called Renaissance Capital. What can you tell us about that and what is the connection if any with the russian government . A Russian Investment Bank that the have time of the crime by a man named stephen jennings. And there is another russian citizen. And day trumpeted the fact and with those officers and their staff there is no such thing as a former fsb officer is a lifetime commitment so they have determined that 30 million went to the big accounts of a Renaissance Capital in the united kingdom. But with in connection of the russian government . It was through the fsb employees at the senior level of a Renaissance Capital. This is also important to the committee and with the june 2010 speech in to acquire u. S. Uranium assets. And then the state department was one of the approval authorities. So my last question with 26 seconds. So did you meet with anyone with the Justice Department and who initiated that meeting . Did they ever followup with you on the information you provided in your complete . Or to let you know they acted on the complaint . One was a Conference Call with the head of the division it did in persian meeting and in both instances is initiated by my firm other than providing information i have no knowledge what happened afterwards. Indeed you are a very brave man and i respect and at and horror loyalty. Why the magnitsky act still sticks in the craw of russia . And what do they have to do with that . That will not be reversed. There is no chance. So it seems that the putin government would understand that. What is the nature. A do believe there are two reasons Vladimir Putin is his single most important priority. First as a mentioned we have evidence that Vladimir Putin nominee the famous cellist exposed to the pan of papers received some of the proceeds of this crime. This was a cellist worth 2 billion. A crime of what they took . He received some of the. So i believe medicare pertinent but a reputed is the richest man in the world but the purpose of his regime is to commit terrible crimes to get that many in he does not want to frozen so now he is at risk of the magnitsky act which is the first reason he is subset the second to get that he had to instruct a lot of people working for him, say 10,000, to do terrible things to rest or kidnap or torture or kill or take property away and as a result he kelly get them to do such terrible things there will be no consequence and as a result of magnitsky act he could no longer guarantee impunity because now we have a consequence in the west would not sanders underestimate that because it nattily freezes the assets but the moment you get up to the list curealls improvisations list which is treasury sanctions no bank in the world was to be a violation of treasury sanctions even in korea or dubai they will close their accounts that day and become a financial praia. So when does a family lawyer come into this . The putin regime family owns a company that was identified by the departmen