Two Russian National Convicted for Operating Large-Scale E-Book Piracy Website

Indictments and complaints charging Russian nationals Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova with criminal copyright infringement

on Nov 18, 2022

Two Russian National Convicted for Operating Large-Scale E-Book Piracy Website

Indictments and complaints charging Russian nationals Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova with criminal copyright infringement, wire fraud, and money laundering for running the online e-book pirate website Z-Library were unsealed earlier today in federal court in Brooklyn. On November 3, 2022, the two were taken into custody in Cordoba, Argentina at the request of the US. According to a court ruling that was also unveiled today, Z-network Libraries' web domains were also shut down and confiscated at the same time.

The arrests and charges were announced by Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) New York Field Office, and Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Authors, publishers, and bookstores were harmed as a result of the defendants' claimed illicit profit-making from stolen works, which they frequently uploaded just hours after their release, according to United States Attorney Peace. This Office is dedicated to preserving the intellectual property rights that support artistic and creative expression and to holding those responsible who violate such rights accountable.

"The defendants are accused of running a website for more than ten years with the primary goal of selling stolen intellectual property in defiance of copyright rules. Theft of intellectual property robs its victims of both their creativity and their hard-earned money.

According to FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Driscoll, "The FBI is committed to making sure that individuals eager to steal and profit from the innovation of others are stopped and made to face the penalties in the criminal justice system."

Z-Library calls itself "the world's largest library" and asserts to have more than 11 million e-books available for download, as stated in the indictment and court documents. Z-Library, which has been operational since around 2009, allows users to upload and download books and provides e-book files in a variety of file formats without copyright protections.

Many of the e-books that Z-Library provides are works of protected intellectual property, meaning that the publishers and authors have the sole rights to distribute them and that Z-Library lacks the authority to do so. These works are typically only accessible elsewhere with the use of anti-circumvention technology.

Z-main Library's goal is to break American law by enabling consumers to download copyrighted books for free. Z-Library functions as a complicated network of around 249 connected web domains in addition to its homepage. The U.S. authorities seized those domains as part of its operation and took them down.

The indictment's accusations are just that—allegations—and the defendants are innocent until and unless found guilty.

The Office's Cyber Crime Task Force started the case for the government. The lawsuit is being brought up by assistant US attorneys Chand Edwards-Balfour, Alexander Mindlin, Antoinette N. Rangel, and Kaitlin Farrell. Asset Recovery Section Manager Brian Morris of the Office is in charge of forfeiture matters.

Important support, in this case, came from the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs, Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, FBI Legal Attachés abroad, and foreign authorities in numerous nations. The Office expresses its gratitude to the Argentine authorities in particular for their assistance in capturing Napolsky and Ermakova.

Several groups that represent the writers and publishers who were the victims of this lawsuit also made a significant contribution. The Authors Guild in New York and The Publishers Association in London are specifically thanked by the Office for their cooperation. The National Cyber-Forensics & Training Alliance has also received the Office's gratitude for its support in the domain removal.