Post by Auset on Nov 18, 2003 18:53:50 GMT -5
Atlanta, Georiga police with the help of federal agents, broke up what they called one of the largest CD piracy rings in the country. Police believe the organziation pirated copyrighted material with a market value of over $50 million dollars.
The ring was allegedly operated by a Lawrenceville, Georgia man named Khalid "DJ Rock" Satary and had been operating since 1999.
Satary, 31, and four other men were named in the 15 count indictment. Garland Wayne Ethridge, 53, Carl Wisdom Smith, 50, Abedullah F. Al-Qudah, 31, Akram Abdelrahman Yacoub, 38, of Lawrenceville and Dalton Mark Howell, 48, were also charged.
Satary had nine manufacturing plants to produce the pirated CD's and three stores to sell them. Over 127,00 CD's were confiscated.
The CD's, which included The Beastie Boys, Tupac, Soulja Slim, Ashanti, The Jackson 5 and The Commodores, were sold for between $5 and $15.
"The victims of piracy operations like these are local legitimate music retailers trying to make a living, as well as record companies, artists, songwriters and everyone else involved in bringing music to the public," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America.
The ring was allegedly operated by a Lawrenceville, Georgia man named Khalid "DJ Rock" Satary and had been operating since 1999.
Satary, 31, and four other men were named in the 15 count indictment. Garland Wayne Ethridge, 53, Carl Wisdom Smith, 50, Abedullah F. Al-Qudah, 31, Akram Abdelrahman Yacoub, 38, of Lawrenceville and Dalton Mark Howell, 48, were also charged.
Satary had nine manufacturing plants to produce the pirated CD's and three stores to sell them. Over 127,00 CD's were confiscated.
The CD's, which included The Beastie Boys, Tupac, Soulja Slim, Ashanti, The Jackson 5 and The Commodores, were sold for between $5 and $15.
"The victims of piracy operations like these are local legitimate music retailers trying to make a living, as well as record companies, artists, songwriters and everyone else involved in bringing music to the public," said Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America.
