Two Americans Arrested for DVD Piracy in China

[Roundabout]

Story from the Taipei Times today talks about some Americans that were apparently getting rich off bootleg movies. Boy, I'd hate to be arrested in a foreign country for something like this, where they may decide to make an example of these guys. But $25,000 a month??? Wow.

Link to Story

Two Americans arrested for DVD piracy in China

JOINT INVESTIGATION: The arrests stem from a US-Chinese operation that included officials in three US cities as well as Beijing and Shanghai.

Two Americans, including a member of a wealthy New York City family, have been arrested in China, where the authorities said an investigation into their business activities had led to the seizure of more than 210,000 counterfeit motion picture DVDs and nearly $100,000 in cash.

Randolph Hobson Guthrie III, 37, and Cody Abram Thrush, 34, were among six people taken into custody on July 1 through a collaborative effort of Chinese and US investigators.

Under Chinese law, a suspect can be held for 30 days without a formal arrest, which in this case was announced on Thursday.

All six defendants will stand trial in China, officials said.

"The lure of high profit and a perceived lack of enforcement consequences has increasingly emboldened counterfeiters," said a statement by Michael Garcia, an assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"This joint enforcement action shows a major advance in fighting intellectual property crime around the world, from where it originates to where it flourishes," he said.

The arrests grew out of an effort called Operation Spring that began with federal authorities in Gulfport, Mississippi, and grew to include officials in Houston, Washington, Beijing and Shanghai.

In addition to the seizures, US officials said Chinese authorities destroyed three warehouses that were used to store counterfeit DVDs for distribution around the world.

The state-run Xinhua news agency said the director of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, told reporters in Shanghai that the Americans had sold 100,000 of the DVDs worldwide.

US officials said they knew little about the Americans arrested in the case. But Guthrie, the son of a retired doctor, described himself in great length in a profile on a Web site for men seeking brides from Russia. As a resident of Shanghai who speaks English and Chinese, he said he owned a Web site that sold DVDs online.

"My gross sales are currently about US$25,000 per month, and I have 10 full-time employees," he wrote.

He said he sold the DVDs world-wide in a business he described as "very profitable." He also said that his family owned a bank, Bessemer Trust, a privately held financial management firm based in New York. But Richard Davis, the company's general counsel, said no one named Guthrie had a controlling interest of the company.

US authorities said they had no information about Thrush.

The theft of intellectual property has been a major problem for American filmmakers, costing the industry about US$3.5 billion a year in lost revenues worldwide. Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America, estimated that the ring had cost US filmmakers US$180 million in lost revenues.

[ViRaL1]

Department of Homeland Security???

It MUST be true what they say about DVD piracy supporting terrorism.

[The village idiot]

The lure of high profit and a perceived lack of enforcement consequences has increasingly emboldened counterfeiters," said a statement by Michael Garcia, an assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Importing back into the states.


Now if the MPAA concentrated on more things like this, I could see supporting them.

I bet his family and that back get put through the wringer from this. Also surprised that the Chinese government really give a shit about this, most other things they certainlt don't, must be time to review some kind of trade agreement.

[ViRaL1]

The importing part I get, but how does that affect homeland security?

As far as China giving a shit, maybe we're infringing on their piracy.

[Headbanger's Ball]

This is a PR move by China to show that they are cracking down on piracy (which they are not.) Now they have Americans arrested & will throw the book at them. Maybe not prison time but I'm sure fines & fees will be an amazing amount even for a family of bankers. China has no real interest in stopping piracy; now they are profitting from it the other way...in court.


What got me was....the dude's in China....a BILLION people....and has to try to find a date from an online Russian brides place??????

[handyguy]

Midnight Cowboy.....

Hmm, you know, you are violating copyright by posting a whole article, right? Just post a paragraph & link to the rest.

[mpack]

Also surprised that the Chinese government really give a shit about this, most other things they certainlt don't, must be time to review some kind of trade agreement.

I visited China on business in 2002: Guangdong province, on the mainland just adjacent to Hong Kong. A wonderful, vibrant place these days, Hong Kong on steroids!

At the time of my visit you couldn't as a westerner walk five paces down the street without yet another street vendor offering you "VCD? DVD? Rolex?". I guess I'm saying that cleaning up that business would be a full time occupation for a lot of people! So, I find it interesting that they end up arresting a couple of Americans... - it smells of gesture politics, combined with a polite, but cleverly pointed reminder to the Americans that they have their own bad apples too... a very Chinese response.

Of course, for all I know the Chinese authorities have been cracking down pretty hard since I left, and we just never get to hear about it. I'd be surprised though, since giving free rein to the population's rampant capitalist impulses is exactly what that province is all about...

[BobV]

!!!!Damn American Capitalists!!!!

[US Guy]

Just take a deep breath and think hard. Without the Americans, do you think the Chinese would get their hands on the sources?

Don't forget, money is king - the ultimate driving force.

[copiador]

One also should ask who is providing the source material for bootleg DVDs. There must be someone here in US that can get the material and then transfer to someone in China.

[mpack]

One also should ask who is providing the source material for bootleg DVDs.

Well, I didn't buy any bootleg DVDs (honest!)* so I wouldn't know, but I've heard stories of pretty awful quality, eg. recorded with a domestic camcorder in a cinema, complete with audience heads etc... And of course, it's even easier once the DVD is released in any market. I suppose a Hollywood insider selling the materials to the bootlegger is possible, and probably happened sometime, but I doubt that's the norm. Yes, there's money in it, but there's also the potential for loss of employment and prison time in it...

[* I did however buy a couple of bootleg Rolexs, but that was because they were such obviously crap knockoffs that they would make great gag gifts for a couple of my brothers... ]