MOSCOW, July 28 (RAPSI) – A prosecutor on Tuesday asked the Presnensky District Court of Moscow to sentence ex-Director General of the Russian Authors’ Society (RAO) Sergey Fedotov to 5.5 years in jail in a case over embezzling more than 762 million rubles (over $10.5 million at the current exchange rate), RAPSI reported from the courtroom.

Moreover, the prosecutor demanded 4.5-year jail terms  for his mother and ex-deputy director of the organization Vera Fedotova and ex-employee Anzhela Ageikina, ex-CEO of the Service Operation Company Svetlana Temesheva and her husband VolodiyNazgashvili each.

Investigators believe that Fedotov and other defendants transferred the authors’ royalty payments to the fake accounts and then cashed the money. 

Fedotov also admitted embezzlement of 12 million rubles during payment of legal services that had not been provided to the Society. The trial is held under a special procedure, without examining evidence, as the defendant has pleaded guilty.

In December 2018, Moscow’s Tverskoy District Court ordered the accused persons to be placed in detention. Investigators believe that they transferred the authors’ royalty payments to the fake accounts and then cashed the money.

In June 2017, Fedotov was convicted in his first embezzlement case and sentenced to 1.5 years behind bars.

As previously reported, employees of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) have revealed a fraud scheme over illegal alienation of RAO’s property. Damage caused to the RAO’s property has been estimated at 500 million rubles (over $7 million at the current exchange rate). The defendant pleaded guilty.

In December 2017, he was released on parole.