Sir William Felix "Bill" Browder, an American-born British financier and political activist, was born on 23 April 1964. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which was formerly the largest foreign portfolio investor in Russia. In 1997, the Hermitage Fund was the best-performing fund in the world, up by 238%. Browder's primary strategy was shareholder rights activism, taking on large Russian companies such as Gazprom, Surgutneftegaz, Unified Energy Systems, and Sidanco.

In 2005, Browder was refused entry to Russia, deported to the UK, and declared a threat to Russian national security. In 2007, Hermitage Capital's offices in Moscow were raided, leading to a series of events that resulted in the arrest and death of his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, in prison. After Magnitsky's death, Browder lobbied for the passage of the Magnitsky Act in 2012, a law to punish Russian human rights violators.

In 2013, both Magnitsky and Browder were tried in absentia in Russia for tax fraud and convicted. Interpol rejected Russian requests to arrest Browder, stating the case was political. Browder has faced multiple attempts by Russia to place him on Interpol's arrest list, all of which have been rejected.