• The Justice Department stated that Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova were arrested in Cordoba.
• Z-Library allowed free downloads of millions of books.
• The 13-year-old network claimed to contain more than 11 million e-books.

The Justice Department stated on Wednesday that two Russians have been charged with copyright infringement and fraud for operating the globally popular Z-Library website, which allowed free downloads of millions of books.

The announcement was made days after the FBI seized the internet domains of Z-Library, effectively shutting down global access to its huge database of e-books of all genres, from popular fiction to academic works.

The Justice Department stated that Anton Napolsky and Valeriia Ermakova, both Russian nationals, were arrested in Cordoba, Argentina, where they reside, at the request of the United States.

They have been accused of criminal violation of intellectual property rights, wire fraud, and money laundering.

“The defendants profited illegally off work they stole, often uploading works within mere hours of publication, and in the process victimized authors, publishers, and booksellers,” said Breon Peace, a prosecutor with the Justice Department in Brooklyn, New York, where the charges were filed.

The 13-year-old network claimed to contain more than 11 million e-books and millions of additional articles available for download in various formats, the majority of which were copyrighted works for which copying restrictions had been removed.

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By constructing a network of 249 web domains and integrating them with a readily accessible homepage, the owners were able to collect donations and fees for some access while avoiding repeated attempts at blocking and shutdown.

Z-Library, often known as z-lib, was under legal attack in a number of nations for copyright breaches.

The French Publishers Union secured a court order to restrict Z-website libraries in France in August 2022, arguing that such services pose a grave threat to the publishing sector.

US Authors Guild stated in a court filing last year that Z-Library was “probably the most prominent and heavily visited book piracy website in the world.”

The Authors Guild stated that Z-Library appeared among large legal download providers in regular web searches, making them appear credible.

The shutdown caused widespread dismay among readers, especially many students who complained online that they cannot afford the commercial prices for textbooks given by Z-Library.

Aderinola Ayomide, a digital marketing specialist in Nigeria, stated on Facebook that the majority of the website’s users are students who cannot afford expensive textbooks, researchers, and article writers.

Due to the hefty cost of astrophysics textbooks, “Z-library was the only way I could download astrophysics textbooks,” stated Karyle Dela Pena of the Philippines on Facebook.

However, other users contributed links to prospective alternatives and sites that duplicated parts of Z-Library’s contents.

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