According to media reports, the ex-head of the Russian Authors’ Society (abbreviated and hereinafter referred to as RAO) S. Fedotov received 5 years in prison. With him, accomplices were also brought to justice, who were lucky to limit themselves to suspended sentences. Did the investigation punish everyone involved?
The question is extremely important, because Fedotov drew attention to the actions under an agreement with the General Director of the Russian Union of Copyright Holders (abbreviated and hereinafter referred to as RSP) A. Krichevsky, as well as the current General Director of RAO A. Sukhotin. However, the above persons were interestingly able to escape punishment.
In RAO Fedotov formed a criminal group that had a clear hierarchy. In addition, all responsibilities between the participants were distributed in it. The judicial authorities determined that the fraudsters signed agreements with the individual entrepreneur on the fictitious use of works by unknown performers with registration of fees. After a while, the money was transferred to cash and appropriated by the members of the group.
Fedotov and 3 of his ex-subordinates were accused of committing fraudulent acts with payments of royalties to the authors in the amount of 762 million rubles. All the defendants in the case agreed with the charges and are ready to pay off the damage they caused. So, as a result, they received a relatively light punishment.
In accordance with the court’s decision, Fedotov will be responsible for compensation for most of the damage. Curiously, would the situation change if Krichevsky and Sukhotin appeared before the Themis? It was these subjects that Fedotov tried with all his might and power to pull along with him.
3 friends
It is quite possible that the current head of the RAO, M. Dmitriev, is the real leader of this scheme, who has put together a team that has “crushed” almost the entire sphere of copyright. RAO, now headed by Sukhotin, specializes in deductions to the executors of the required funds. In turn, RSP, which is under the control of Krichevsky, protects copyright. The latter is widely known in WIPO as an intermediary between various labels and streaming services.
They say that it was Krichevsky who helped Dmitriev to head RAO under very strange circumstances. In 2016, when Fedotov was removed, a conference was held, where the elections of the renewed leadership took place. However, the participants in this meeting said that what was happening was more a “raider takeover”, and not a democratic expression of will. Moreover, there were even rumors about pressure from the “crime” on the leadership of the RAO.
They even tried to challenge the results of these “elections” in court, but Dmitriev managed to defend his position. Therefore the nickname “False Dmitry” stuck to him.
After winning the chair, he immediately changed the Charter of the organization. It is now possible to convene a conference only after the approval of the Board. Accordingly, unauthorized conferences became impossible.
After providing the necessary protection, the leader and his entourage began to seize and cut the market. They say that it was to achieve these precise goals in 2018 that Sukhotin took over as CEO of RAO. Dmitriev, in turn, became the Chairman of the Management Board, which allowed him to be closer to business.
Are the storms gathering?
Krichevsky will also have to bear responsibility. The court recovered from him on a loan issued five years ago, a debt in the amount of 61 million rubles! Krichevsky wants to appeal the decision. However, he faces another trial. Representatives of the State Duma’s Anti-Corruption Committee are examining the cash flows between WIPO and Firma Melodiya, which were managed by this entity.
It is with “Melody” that a horrific story has recently happened. The largest owner of the RF audio archive was sold at an auction for only 330 million rubles. corporation “Formax”. At the same time, the new owner received hundreds of thousands of records from the times of the USSR and 2 huge buildings. Impressive generosity! However, the question arises: why?
It turned out that WIPO was directly involved in this story. One of the founders of Formax, V. Osipov, is the head of the Peter the Great Foundation, founded jointly by RAO and WIPO. The situation is gaining momentum: if law enforcement officers paid attention to the organizations already mentioned above, then RAO can hardly feel safe with Sukhotin himself.
However, he, apparently, remains calm and gradually “squeezes” the entire copyright market for himself. So, with the “RAO” ispdir A. Karelov, they received almost half of the “National Digital Aggregator”. As you know, this is one of the largest Russian intermediaries between labels and streaming services. In this story, you can easily see and observe the trace of Dmitriev.
Friendship is friendship, but business is business
Fedotov and Krichevsky were friends for a long time and coexisted peacefully. However, this moment of bliss could not last forever. The point of conflict was Krichevsky’s desire to unite RAO, as well as WIPO and RSP at a general meeting of these organizations. Fedotov, in turn, did not like this “alignment” much, and a quarrel occurred between the comrades. Krichevsky was accused of an unfriendly takeover, and the scandalous decision was canceled.
Meanwhile, 3 unknown persons severely beat Krichevsky. Did Fedotov use similar methods of influencing dissidents? If this is true (there is a version that beating is a banal statement), then the effectiveness of Krichevsky’s methods is much higher.
Indeed, charges of fraud flew to Fedotov. After that, he received a one and a half year sentence. After some time, an independent audit of the company was organized, which provided Fedotov with a second “run”. It is noteworthy that it was the newly-made head Dmitriev who ordered the audit. Most likely, in this way he helped Krichevsky “annoy” his former comrade. Fedotov considers Krichevsky to be the “customer” of his own criminal prosecution.
N. Mikhalkov was unexpectedly active in this situation. According to media reports, he asked the prosecution for humanity towards Fedotov. They say that the director needed time to thoroughly “cover up” his tracks, since Mikhalkov was the head of the RSP and had strong ties with almost all the organizations and individuals mentioned in this article.
Finally, Mikhalkov was supposed to be killed by a demand from the Deposit Insurance Agency to law enforcement officers to check the leadership of the RSP, as well as RAO and WIPO, suspected of illegally withdrawing almost 2 billion rubles. from Mostransbank. In the heated situation, Mikhalkov probably decided to start communicating more closely with Krichevsky and “False Dmitry”.
Isn’t an old friend ever a good one?
Unfortunately, this group feels calm, because everyone is “fed” and in theory there is no threat. However, their unhealthy activity should nevertheless become the basis for new scandals related to RAO!