Grimy Times has learned that four individuals, Mamadou Sadio Barry, 40, Moussa Baradji, 29, Sedikey Sankano, 42, and Won Ahn, 69, have been sentenced for their roles in a massive DVD and CD counterfeiting operation in Atlanta.
A federal jury found Barry and Baradji guilty of copyright infringement in 2010. The evidence presented during the trial revealed that Baradji and Barry used warehouses on Metropolitan Parkway in Atlanta to “burn” or copy DVDs and CDs. They produced and paid third parties to produce fake labels and packaging to assemble the final product sold by Baradji and Barry through their retail stores.
The operation, which was led by Sankano, produced and distributed thousands of CDs and DVDs per week. According to court documents, Sankano also acquired labels, packaging, and blank digital media at the warehouse for use in manufacturing counterfeit copies of copyrighted materials on DVDs and CDs. Ahn assisted in providing blank DVDs and CDs that had been illegally smuggled into the United States to the counterfeiters.
The four defendants were among 13 individuals indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2009 on various copyright, trademark, and counterfeiting charges. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce of the Northern District of Georgia and Trial Attorney John H. Zacharia of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.
The investigation was led by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in conjunction with agents from the Atlanta Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit; the College Park, Ga., Police Department; and the East Point, Ga., Police Department.
The defendants were sentenced by U.S. District Judge William S. Duffey Jr. on various counts of copyright infringement, trafficking in counterfeit goods, and trafficking in counterfeit labels. Mamadou Sadio Barry was sentenced to 60 months in prison, Moussa Baradji was sentenced to 50 months in prison, Sedikey Sankano was sentenced to 24 months in prison, and Won Ahn was placed on probation for one year.
The court also ordered Barry, Baradji, and Sankano to serve three years of supervised release after completing their prison sentences. Barry and Baradji were also ordered to pay $70,894 in restitution, and Sankano was ordered to pay $3,867 in restitution.
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Key Facts
- State: Georgia
- Category: Cybercrime|White Collar Crime|Organized Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release ↗
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