Conductor Sergey Smbatyan Acquitted of Fraud Charges

The estate fraud charges against Smbatyan were dropped “on the basis that the impugned act was not committed by him”

Charges leveled against Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan in July 2023 have now been dropped. The initial news of his arrest saw him suspended as principal conductor of the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO), a role he held since January 2022. 

At the time, MPO’s acting CEO Christopher Muscat said that the orchestra was deferring its relationship with Smbatyan until “the relevant facts and circumstances are ascertained,” according to Times of Malta.

In July, Smbatyan was arrested with his father Armen Smbatyan, the former Ambassador of Armenia to Israel, by the national general prosecutor’s office on charges related to real estate fraud in their native Armenia. 

Allegedly, Smbatyan’s actions had caused a loss of one billion drams for the state and the 300-square-meter plot of the Yerevan Tchaikovsky Music School to be stolen. 

The arrest was also made in connection with actions by Sochocenter — a company allegedly owned by the Smbatyan family — which had been given land in Armenian capital Yerevan to develop an educational complex, but had supposedly built a business center instead, reported ClassicalMusic.

“Herewith we inform you that by the decision of the Prosecutor of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia dated October 27, 2023, Maestro Sergey Smbatyan was acquitted, and the criminal prosecution against him was ceased on the basis that he did not commit the guilty act,” read a statement from Smbatyan’s lawyers.

In Armenia, Smbatyan also serves as the artistic director and principal conductor of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, which he founded in 2005.  

“As you may have learned from the news, today was the end of a process that could have only one resolution, and that was to clarify unnecessary public misunderstandings and denial of the accusations made against me,” Smbatyan posted on Facebook. “Thank you to everyone who has stood by me over the past months and waited with me in faith for this day. Your faith inspires and keeps me moving.”