The Cornerstone Report: Volume 2, Issue 3

Two Americans Convicted In China For DVD Piracy

Randolph H. Guthrie taken into custody by ICE agents following his extradition to the U.S.

A Chinese court convicted Randolph Hobson Guthrie III, 38, and Abram Cody Thrush, 30, on criminal charges of illegally selling and distributing more than $840,000 worth of pirated motion picture DVDs via the Internet to buyers in more than 20 nations, including the United States. Two Chinese accomplices were also recently convicted and sentenced in the case. Chinese authorities also located and destroyed three warehouses that were being used to store those DVDs.

Guthrie and Thrush were arrested in Shanghai in July 2004. Chinese prosecutors maintained that, since October 2002, Guthrie had illegally sold some 180,000 pirated DVDs around the globe via the Internet. The Motion Picture Association of America believes that Guthrie was the largest distributor of pirated DVDs in the world. This investigation represents the first joint Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) investigation by ICE agents and Chinese authorities.

On April 18, that case reached its conclusion when Guthrie and Thrush—both U.S. citizens—were convicted and sentenced in a Shanghai court. Guthrie was sentenced to a jail term of two years and six months in China, and a fine equivalent to approximately $60,000. Thrush was sentenced to a jail term of one year in China, and a fine equivalent to approximately $1,200. Both Guthrie and Thrush were expelled from China upon the completion of their sentences. Guthrie was re-arrested upon arrival in the United States, and currently faces an 18-count indictment for various U.S. charges, including criminal copyright infringement and money- laundering violations.

Launched in Sept. 2003 by the ICE resident agent-in-charge office in Gulfport, Miss., the investigation grew to include the ICE offices in Beijing, China and Houston, as well as the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Coordination Center) in Washington, D.C. The case illustrates the truly global nature of IPR crime, which requires, in turn, a global response on the part of U.S. law enforcement agencies and their foreign counterparts.

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Cornerstone Calendar

Cornerstone is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) comprehensive investigative initiative for fighting financial crime, trade fraud and intellectual property crime.

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