The Prosecutor General's Office filed a lawsuit in the Perovsky Court of Moscow demanding to recover Russia's largest music publishing house «Music» for the state. As reported by RBC sources familiar with the content of the lawsuit, the Prosecutor General's Office identified corruption violations in the actions of the leaders of one of the oldest music libraries — FSUE «Publishing House «Music».
The agency found that director Mark Zilberquit, a US citizen, initiated the process of corporatization and subsequent privatization of the publishing house «with the aim of converting the property into his own ownership». For this, he established LLC «Gamma-Press» in 2003, and in 2004 LLC «Music Publishing P. Jurgenson», which at the time of creation did not possess any assets.
According to the prosecutor's office, in 2012 Zilberquit organized a fictitious auction for the sale of 100% of the publishing house's shares and ensured the illegal participation and victory of LLC «Publishing House «Gamma-Press» in the auction. The transaction value at that time was 8.4 million rubles.
«At the same time, the transfer of the music library to private ownership was directly prohibited by Rosimushchestvo. However, Zilberquit M.A., abusing his position, determined the balance value of the unique fund as zero and appropriated it. He then digitized the print runs, registered copyright, restricted their free use in the country, and banned free access to them», — RBC quotes the prosecutor's office's position.
The agency asks the court to recover the publishing house's shares of «Music» for the state, as well as LLC «Gamma-Press» (owned by Zilberquit and his wife Elena), and LLC «Music Publishing P. Jurgenson» (owned by Zilberquit and the daughter of his business partner Boris Jurgenson Anastasia), as the actions of the publishing house's director and his partners constitute «illegal acquisition of personal wealth and harm democratic institutions, sustainable development, the national economy, and law and order, create serious threats to the stability and safety of society, undermine democratic and ethical values».