New York (HedgeCo.net) – Hedge fund Hermitage Capital’s legal adviser, Sergey Magnitskiy, died on Monday night in a detention centre in Moscow, the Guardian reports.

The 37 year old father of two was held in Moscow’s Matrosskaya Tishina detention center for almost a year. “Sergey Magnitskiy was refused bail and kept in detention for a year without trial,” Hermitage said in a statement. “He was denied the ability to see his mother and his wife and speak to his children for the entire time of his detention.”

The US-born, British naturalised lawyer was arrested in 2008 after accusing senior officers in the Interior Ministry of taking part in a $230 million state-sponsored scam, leading to the theft of companies owned by Hermitage and HSBC. Hermitage has filed law suits and sent letters to Russian anti-corruption authorities, naming top-ranked officials and their role in the alleged tax scam.

The Guardian quoted David Clark, former special advisor at the Foreign Office and chairman of the Russia Foundation, a UK-based organisation that promotes a deeper understanding of Russian affairs. Hermitage’s case is “real daily life” in Russia, Clark said.

Alex Akesson
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Tags: foreign office, hedge funds, tax scam