This is essentially a sequel to his first book ‘Red Notice’ and focuses more on the money laundering shenanigan and the involvements of various actors around the world. The book is from the perspective of the protagonist who seems himself quite self-righteous but he really presented compelling facts on why his actions really drew the wrath of Putin and the whole Russian machinations.
Some of the interesting thoughts from this book
- The corruption described in this book went deep and the amount (in the billions of dollar) is staggering
- The bad actors in this book utilized a lot of intimidation tactics (assassination threat, suing, smear campaigns). One really needs to keep one’s wits dealing with these people
- Things are so interconnected on these topics and can change so quickly
- Russia through this lens is a totalitarian, secretive, top-heavy state that is so prone to abuse
- It is sad to see a lot of Western perpetrators supporting the corrupted regime for promise of money and fame
- Money laundering is both easy and complicated
- Whatever you think about the protagonist, he has a lot of dedication to uncover this
- Magnitsky Act hopefully is going everywhere
Fun, gripping and insane, this tied up a lot of things we saw but not quite identified, including Putin’s obsession on Bill Browder, Trump’s erratic behaviours and potential tie to Russia and more. This is a quick read or listen and is quite inspiring of how we should all standup to these bullies and murderers wherever they are because that’s the right thing to do.