During his news conference with President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wants to look into alleged tax evasion by associates of American-born financier Bill Browder. Putin claimed Browder's associates made $1.5 billion in Russia, never paid taxes on it, and then donated $400 million to Hillary Clinton's campaign.
$400 million seems like an awful lot, especially considering Clinton's campaign raised a total of $563 million.
Putin is likely talking about Browder's partners at Ziff Brothers Investments. Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya mentioned them in a June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr., explaining their connection to Browder.
The Ziff brothers gave $17,700 to Hillary Clinton in 2016. They gave $297,000 to the Democratic National Committee. That's way less than $400 million. If Putin is talking about donations to the Clinton Foundation, too, he's still off. In years past, the Ziff brothers haven't given more than $110,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
In all, the Ziff brothers gave $1.7 million to political causes in the 2016 cycle. Not $400 million.
