Sergei Bakeshin has commented for Delovoy Peterburg on the Museum of Machine Rebellion

The trustee in bankruptcy of the Museum of Machine Rebellion has asked a court to take interim measures in the form of seizure of property of the former CEO of the company, Anastasia Gushchina, who has a 50% stake in the share capital. Let us remind, the bankruptcy procedure was initiated in 2020 by Technopolis Moscow JSC to which the museum owes RUB 4.7m for the lease. At the same time, despite the open bankruptcy proceedings, the renewed Museum of Machine Rebellion resumed its activities in St Petersburg in October this year. It belongs to Anna Gushchina, although social media lists the owner as Anastasia Gushchina, who also has the status of an individual entrepreneur and is associated with a company that manufactures, sells and rents metal figures – robots.

Sergei Bakeshin, Head of Dispute Resolution & Insolvency practice at Maxima Legal, explained to Delovoy Peterburg that it is sometimes more convenient to create a separate legal entity that would own the collection. “It is quite possible that the exhibits of this museum belonged to another person, for example, the founder. And the museum was just an organisation which rented these exhibits and carried out exhibition activities,” said the expert.

If a person owns shares or stakes in a bankrupt company, it does not prohibit him from economic activities, owning other shares and stakes, stressed Sergei. There is a risk that the shareholder may be brought to vicarious liability for debts, but there have to be certain legal grounds for this.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Delovoy Peterburg newspaper website >>>