MUNICH (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Two employees and ten member of the German collection society GEMA have been accused of making fraudulent claims of more than $1.24 million.
GEMA's CEO Dr. Harald Heker revealed today at a press conference that the implicated GEMA members were allegedly making claims and collecting payment for live performance events around Germany from the two GEMA employees – the catch however, is that the reported events never took place.
Billboard reported that the two employees have been sacked and the alleged fraud has been reported to German authorities. According to Billboard, Heker said that none of the accused members were "prominent" and noted that two legal firms have been retained to investigate the matter on behalf of GEMA.
Heker also stated that GEMA will revise their reporting systems to avoid such alleged abuses in the future.
GEMA is the leading performance rights collection organization in Germany, repping more than 60,000 members in Germany and more than 1 million copyright owners worldwide. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
