The Russian Authors’ Society (RAO) has been accused of fraud after police raided their Moscow offices, the RBC news website reported Monday.
Investigators claim that the organization allegedly ran an embezzlement scheme and diverted funds worth an estimated 500 million rubles ($7.7 million).
Participants in the alleged scheme are still being identified along with any additional criminal charges, RBC reported.
The RAO’s offices on Ulitsa Bolshaya Bronnaya were raided on Monday afternoon, while police also searched the home of the company's general director, Sergei Fedotov.
The searches were conducted after police reopened a 2015 investigation into embezzlement charges against the organization, RBC reported. An unnamed source told the news website that the entire top management were currently under investigation.
The RAO is a non-governmental organization that provides copyright and intellectual property protection to composers and songwriters.
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