Unpacking Astonishing Financial Fraud with Lucy Komisar

"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.

You can learn more about the Magnitsky Act story by watching The Magnitsky Act Behind the Scenes The film takes its title from the Magnitsky Act, a bill passed in 2012, 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 access at the film’s website here.