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“I don’t think a tough question is disrespectful.” ~ Helen Thomas

By Catherine Austin Fitts

Lucy Komisar is an investigative reporter—she publishes The Komisar Scoop. Lucy is my “go to” person for questions about complex financial frauds, particularly when they involve tax evasion and the offshore haven system. Lucy is both brilliant and persistent and can convert these complex schemes into fascinating stories that anyone can understand. This is a remarkable gift.

Of late, Lucy has been in the lead on writing about William Browder, CEO of the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, at one time the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. The allegations by and about Browder and his operation are extensive.

This week, Lucy and I discuss Browder and several of the other large financial frauds she has covered. Considered together, these operations are a reminder of the extent to which financial crime and corruption create inequality. Forget many of the proposals to ease inequality we are hearing in the U.S. presidential campaign—so long as financial fraud and lawlessness continue, inequality will exist. And so long as we continue to finance the people committing fraud, inequality will grow. This is something that can be reversed, but the first step is to understand it.

The Magnitsky Act, a U.S. bill passed in 2012, was designed to punish Russian officials allegedly responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax accountant hired by Browder to investigate the government’s seizure of several of Browder’s Russian subsidiaries. You can learn more about the Magnitsky Act story by watching the film The Magnitsky Act Behind the Scenes. You can access the film’s website here.

In Let’s Go to the Movies, I will review a new favorite, Mr. Sunshine—a 2018 South Korean television sensation. Mr. Sunshine tells a love story set in Hanseong (Seoul) in the early 1900s as Koreans fight for independence amid a series of wars and invasions. The cinematography is extraordinary—at times the film seems more like a moving art show than a movie. This one is highly recommended.

Subscribers can e-mail or post questions and story suggestions for Money & Markets for this week here.

Related Solari Report:

The Offshore Financial System with Lucy Komisar

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