Anti-Piracy Representative Arrested For Bribery

FileSharingZ.com has learned that the legal representative of the companies 1C and Ascon, Alexander Sudarev, has been arrested for bribery. After a preliminary investigation, it quickly became clear that legal representatives of anti-piracy organizations were illegally earning money through blackmailing and racketeering.
By Mavol, FileSharingZ.com

Alexander Sudarev, legal representative of the companies 1C and Ascon, was arrested by the Federal Security Service of Russia (FFS) in Samara, Russia for bribery. Mr. Sudarev received an amount of 400 000 rubles (approximately 17 400 USD) from the chief executive of the municipal undertaking "Samaragorproject" on 26th of June this year.

It turns out that Mr. Sudarev blackmailed the chief executive, threatening him with starting a criminal case against his company for using "illegal" copies of the CAD system "Compass". FileSharingZ.com has learned that indeed, that day a criminal case was started. However, not a case of piracy but one of corruption and blackmailing. The maximum penalty for this crime in Russia is 5 years in prison.

1C, the company Mr. Sudarev represents, commented on the situation as follows:"We have no information on any illegal use of our CAD system "Compas" software in MU "Samaragorproject".

Alexander Sudarev is well known for being active in a criminal case against the editorial staff of a local Russian newspaper called "Novaya Gazeta". It was after Mr. Sudarev made a statement in May 2007, the prosecution of the editor-in-chief, Sergey Kurt-Adgiev, of this newspaper started. He was accused of using "illegal" copies of 1C's software. Despite the fact the software was legally acquired and the newspaper had provided the police with the necessary documents to prove it. Nevertheless, the newspaper's computers were confiscated and a criminal case against Mr. Kurt-Adgiev was started.

According to the editor-in-chief of "Novaya Gazeta" Mr. Kurt-Adgiev, Mr. Sudarev's way of extorting money was to accuse someone of using illegal copies of software, regardless of whether this was true or not. Mr. Sudarev had a very good relationship with the Non-commercial Partnership of Software Products Suppliers (NPSPS), an anti-piracy organization in Samara, Russia. Being an official representative of the 1C company in Samara he could insist on having the legality of the software verified, meaning he could have all computers of a company seized --a financial disaster for any company. Mr. Sudarev promised to leave the company alone if they paid him large sums of money.

Furthermore, Mr. Kurt-Adgiev stated that Mr. Sudarev was able to change the outcome of any investigation of seized computers by having a trusted local NPSPS employee do the "verification".

Mr. Kurt-Adgiev also claims that he knows of at least ten other cases which show large similarities to his case.

News Source: In House, Hot off The Press