Mr Magnitsky was an auditor at a Moscow law firm when he discovered what he said was a massive fraud by Russian tax officials and police officers.
He uncovered the alleged theft of $230m (£150m). After reporting it to the authorities, he was himself detained in 2008 on suspicion of aiding tax evasion, and died in custody on 16 November 2009 at the age of 37.
He acted as a legal adviser for London-based Hermitage Capital Management (HCM), where colleagues insist the case against him was fabricated to make him halt his investigations.
Despite his death Russian prosecutors decided to put him on trial - a case dismissed as a "circus" by his family and by HCM founder Bill Browder, who was himself tried in absentia. Mr Browder is now a British citizen, based in London.
Sergei Magnitsky’s Torture and Murder in Pre-Trial Detention (click here)
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Title I—Permanent normal trade relations for the Russian Federation
Sec. 101. Findings.
Sec. 102. Termination of application of title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 to products of the Russian Federation.
Title II—Trade enforcement measures relating to the Russian Federation
Sec. 201. Reports on implementation by the Russian Federation of obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization and enforcement actions by the United States Trade Representative.
Sec. 202. Promotion of the rule of law in the Russian Federation to support United States trade and investment.
Sec. 203. Reports on laws, policies, and practices of the Russian Federation that discriminate against United States digital trade.
Sec. 204. Efforts to reduce barriers to trade imposed by the Russian Federation.
Title III—Permanent normal trade relations for Moldova
Sec. 301. Findings.
Sec. 302. Termination of application of title IV of the Trade Act of 1974 to products of Moldova.
Title IV—Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012
Sec. 401. Short title.
Sec. 402. Findings; sense of Congress.
Sec. 403. Definitions.
Sec. 404. Identification of persons responsible for the detention, abuse, and death of Sergei Magnitsky and other gross violations of human rights.
Sec. 405. Inadmissibility of certain aliens.
Sec. 406. Financial measures.
Sec. 407. Report to Congress.
June 15, 2017
By Jeremy Herb
Washington — The Senate was nearly unanimous on Thursday (click here) passing a bill that would slap Russia with new sanctions and give Congress the power to review any White House attempts to roll them back.
The Senate approved the bill 98-2, with Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky and Independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont voting against the measure. The bill, which includes both Russian and Iranian sanctions, now heads to the House, which still needs to pass it before it goes to President Donald Trump's desk.
The measure is widely seen as a rebuke to Trump, as it hits Russia with new sanctions to punish Moscow for its interference in US elections, as well as over Moscow's aggression in Ukraine and Syria.
The bill establishes a review process for Congress to have a say whether the White House eases Russia sanctions. It also establishes new sanctions against those conducting cyberattacks on behalf of the Russian government as well as supplying arms to Syrian President Bashar Assad, and it allows for sanctions to hit Russia's mining, metals, shipping and railways sectors....
December 6, 2017
By Philip Ewing
Sanctions on Russia were to be "ripped up" (click here) early in the Trump administration, then-national security adviser Mike Flynn said on Inauguration Day, according to new information released Wednesday.
The new details suggest that President Trump and his aides not only were amenable to new negotiations with Russia about its bilateral relationship with the U.S — despite its attack on the 2016 presidential election — but had concluded by the time they took office that they would definitely void existing sanctions.
That information comes from a letter released by the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md....
December 6, 2017
By Ken Dilanian and Natasha Lebedeva
Donald Trump Jr. asked a Russian lawyer (click here) at the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting whether she had evidence of illegal donations to the Clinton Foundation, the lawyer told the Senate Judiciary Committee in answers to written questions obtained exclusively by NBC News.
The lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, told the committee that she didn't have any such evidence, and that she believes Trump misunderstood the nature of the meeting after receiving emails from a music promoter promising incriminating information on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump's Democratic opponent.
Once it became apparent that she did not have meaningful information about Clinton, Trump seemed to lose interest, Veselnitskaya said, and the meeting petered out....
"...So, let's give you that opportunity. Os, in June, you met with Donald Trump, Jr., with Jahred Kushner and with Paul Manafort. What was the purpose of that meeting?..."
Indeed.
