Investigators of the National Police of Ukraine have announced a suspicion against the director of a music label for fraud that caused damage to the widow of the famous Ukrainian musician Kuzma Skryabin (Andriy Kuzmenko) in the amount of almost 1.5 million hryvnias. According to the press service of the National Police, after the death of the artist, his wife, Svitlana Babiichuk, inherited his copyright, who created a company for the management of her husband's intellectual property.
The widow's firm made an agreement with the record label, according to which 70% of the revenue from the use of Scriabin's music tracks was to be received by her, and 30% by the label. However, the director of the label deliberately underestimated the number of tracks listened to on streaming platforms and, accordingly, the remuneration for the rights holder. This allowed her to make illicit profits through fraudulent schemes.
During the investigation, it was established that the label entered into an agreement with a Czech music distribution company, which in turn took up to 85% of the profits. An underestimation of the number of auditions was also recorded, which allowed the company to reduce the amount of payments to the rights holder.
According to the results of the investigation, the investigators of the National Police collected enough evidence to declare the director and founder of the label suspected of fraud committed on a large scale (Part 4 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The sanction of the article provides up to eight years of imprisonment.
