Executives with Spain's Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE) -- a Spanish copyright royalty collecting society that lobbies for DRM, censorship, and Internet surveillance -- have been charged with fraudulently siphoning off funds destined for artists. This is what "ripping off artists" looks like, and it's not really similar to children sharing music.
According to Spanish newspaper El País, the investigation is focused on José Luis Rodríguez Neri, the head of an SGAE subsidiary called the Digital Society of Spanish Authors (SDAE). Neri faces charges of "fraud, misappropriation of funds and disloyal administration." On Monday, a High Court judge grilled him for more than four hours over the charges.
Investigators say Neri made payments for non-existent services to a contractor that then paid kickbacks to Neri and his associates. The contractor's books show that it received 5 million euros from SDAE, but only reported 3.7 million euros of those funds to tax authorities.
Although Neri is the focus of the investigation, investigators suspect he did not act alone. A total of nine people associated with SGAE, including its chairman Teddy Bautista, were detained on Friday and Saturday. They were released on Sunday without bail, but their passports have been taken and they are barred from leaving Spain.
Police raid Spanish copyright society in embezzlement case
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F-Yeah! Hah! Yessss! *cheers around the room*.
I don’t believen in karma, but this would totally qualify. :D
Karma doesn’t even register, it’s the hypocrisy that this brings attention to.
This is only an accusation, let’s not throw stones at them yet simply because they may have acted badly in some other cases.
And they are also suspect of misappropriating another 400 million Euros.
Did they catch the eye of the High Court because of misappropriation of funds, or because someone neglected to pay taxes on 1.3 million euros?
And so we get to the heart of the matter. All these Anti-piracy folks have one agenda; cash. Doesn’t matter whose money, it’s just a way to get it. No difference between these folks and patent-trolls, except these guys try to get govmts to do the prosecuting for them.
Throw them into the Bull Ring!
I am shocked, just shocked.
if anyone actually believes these people care about getting money to the artists, they simply haven’t been paying attention to the entire history of recorded music, wherein labels have tried every trick they can to avoid paying artists their due. This is merely the latest in a long line of cases.
Corruption like this would never happen in the USA or Canada. Besides the RIAA and the CRIA only have the artists best interests at heart!
Just goes to further prove you can steal more with a suit and tie than you can with a gun… or a modem.
All the major member corps of the RIAA have been convicted of improperly withholding royalties from artists, repeatedly. However, since they are allowed to pay fines with other people’s money they keep doing it.
We need criminal charges for corporate officers and government officials who commit or order crimes.