“My brothers always think: what would Jesus do? And they do that. I think: what would dad do? And I do the opposite.” — Jamison Firestone

What do you do if your dad was a multimillionaire conman, crack addict, and owner of New York’s most expensive brothel? If you’re Jamison Firestone, you transform yourself into his antithesis. You go to law school. You go to post-Soviet Russia and establish the country’s first independent foreign law firm. You employ Sergei Magnitsky and befriend Alexei Navalny. You transform yourself into one of Vladimir Putin’s most vocal foreign critics.

It’s quite a story. His memoir, Rule of Lies: My Wild Ride Through Chaos, Corruption, and Murder in Putin’s Russia (HarperCollins, June 4, 2026), is both a Russian and American confession. As an old friend of the show, Peter Pomerantsev, says: “This book is NUTS! — in the best possible way.”

Yes, Rule of Lies is nuts. But it’s also the best kind of contemporary history. Firestone arrived in Russia in 1991, at the very moment the KGB hardliners rolled tanks into the streets and kidnapped Gorbachev. He watched, within days, as the Russian people confronted the tanks. He saw Yeltsin emerge as the hero, the Soviet Union dissolve, and the promise of a free-market democracy consumed by mafia groups, corrupt officials, and the structural lawlessness of the transition. In 1993, Yeltsin shelled his own congress. In 1999, on New Year’s Eve, he got on television, wished everyone a happy new year, and resigned — handing the country to Vladimir Putin in exchange for a pardon. That, says Firestone, is how we got to Putinism’s kleptocratic rule of lies.

Firestone’s Russian memoir is also the Magnitsky story. He employed an accountant called Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered the largest tax theft in Russian history, was arrested on fabricated charges, and died in pre-trial detention — probably murdered by the same corrupt officials he had exposed. The Magnitsky Act, the Magnitsky sanctions, the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign — all of it connects back to Jamison Firestone. And, in a way, back to his dad, Richard, the New York City crook who schooled his rebellious son in the value of obeying the law and telling the truth.

Five Takeaways

• The Criminal Father Who Taught Him Everything. Father was a multimillionaire fraudster, crack addict, owner of New York’s most expensive brothel, associate of loan sharks and contract killers. Firestone spent his late teens learning to deal with criminals respectfully, make them laugh, say no, and not get killed. Exactly the skills Russia required. Crime doesn’t pay. He believed it.

• Arriving at the Moment of the Coup. 1991. Tanks in the streets. Gorbachev kidnapped. Then: the Russian people stood up. The tanks backed down. But the hero was Yeltsin, not Gorbachev. Democracy got lost in the business gold rush. Everyone, including the US government, was too focused on the business opportunities to notice the democratic backsliding.

• Yeltsin’s New Year’s Eve Deal. Yeltsin shelled his own congress in 1993. In 1999, he got on TV on New Year’s Eve, wished everyone a happy new year, and resigned — handing the country to Vladimir Putin in exchange for a pardon. ‘That’s how we got Putin.’ For a pardon.

• Sergei Magnitsky: Tax Fraud, Murder, and the Act. Firestone employed Magnitsky. He uncovered the largest tax theft in Russian history. He was arrested on fabricated charges, denied medical treatment, and died — murdered by the officials he had exposed. The Magnitsky Act grew from that death. Firestone and Browder have extended it worldwide.

• Russia’s Precarity and Why Ukraine Must Not Fall. $600 billion in reserves burnt through. Russia now owes hundreds of billions. Mass mobilisation would make Putin deeply unpopular. The regime is precarious. But if Russia is not stopped in Ukraine, the West will be fighting it on European soil it once controlled.

About the Guest

Jamison Firestone established Russia’s first independent foreign law firm and is co-founder of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign. He is the author of Rule of Lies (HarperCollins, June 4, 2026). He lives in London.

References

Rule of Lies by Jamison Firestone (HarperCollins, June 4, 2026): harpercollins.co.uk/products/rule-of-lies-my-wild-ride-through-chaos-corruption-and-murder-in-putins-russia-jamison-r-firestone
Bill Browder, Red Notice and Freezing Order
Sergei Magnitsky — Firestone’s employee; origin of the Magnitsky Act

Chapters:

00:00:31 Falling in and out of love with Russia
00:02:18 1991: euphoria and tanks
00:03:48 Yeltsin shells his own congress
00:04:55 Putin for a pardon: the New Year’s Eve deal
00:05:18 The criminal father
00:09:15 What would dad do? The opposite.
00:20:00 Sergei Magnitsky
00:25:00 Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act
00:30:00 Navalny before he was Navalny
00:35:00 Russia’s precarity
00:37:44 Stop Russia in Ukraine
00:39:22 Tom Cruise to play Jamison?