APRIL 1997

BOSTON FBI:

• William Dylewicz, et al.: In Boston, on April 21, 1997, the President of Marco Polo International Inc. and an employee were convicted of conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods and criminal trademark violations. A third defendant pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and three counts of trafficking in counterfeit merchandise. The defendants were convicted for distributing counterfeit leather handbags bearing the registered trademarks Coach, Chanel, and Dooney & Bourke, and counterfeit Rolex watches. These counterfeit goods were sold at flea markets throughout New England. The case was investigated by the Boston Field Office, and was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern and Assistant U.S. Attorney James Rehnquist of the District of Massachusetts.

• John Botehlo: Botehlo was arraigned on April 7, 1997, in Bangor, Maine on an indictment charging conspiracy to violate the criminal copyright statute. Botehlo was allegedly involved in distributing copyright-infringing motion picture videos to video rental outlets throughout Maine. This investigation has already resulted in the discovery and forfeiture of more than 900 copyright infringing videos, and the conviction of one John Curry, a rental video distributer, for criminal copyright infringement. The case was investigated by the Boston Field Office and is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Jay P. McCloskey and Assistant U.S. Attorney James McCarthy of the District of Maine.

• Janet Back: A federal grand jury in New Hampshire returned an indictment on May 1, 1997, against Back for one-count of trafficking in counterfeit copyrighted computer software on CD-ROMs. Back was allegedly importing CD-ROMs from China, and supplied them to Larry Ianuzzi, for sale at Ianuzzi's store, CD-ROMS Plus, in Salem, New Hampshire. Ianuzzi pled guilty in February 1995 to one count of trafficking in copyright-infringing CD-ROMS. This case is being investigated by the Boston Field Office and will be prosecuted by U. S. Attorney Paul M. Gagnon and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold Huftalen of the District of New Hampshire.

• Andrew Leppo and Leo Cooney: In Boston, Leppo and Cooney pled guilty to criminal trademark infringement for the sale of more than $2.7 million infringing Single In-Line Memory Modules (SIMMs), an internal memory storage device for IBM-compatible personal computers. The SIMMs were labeled with the "IBM" trademark, and packaged to look virtually identical to IBM SIMMs. The defendants warranted, and purchasers believed, that these SIMMs were genuine IBM memory. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 17, 1997. The case was investigated by the Boston Field Office, and was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Donald K. Stern and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanne Kempthorne of the District of Massachusetts.

CHARLOTTE FBI:

• Looted Logos: In Greensboro, North Carolina, 27 defendants have been indicted since November 1995, for distributing trademark-infringing apparel at the Lexington Wholesale Alley, which served as a distribution center for fake goods for the entire Southeast. FBI agents seized more than $1.7 million worth of goods manufactured by NIKE, Calvin Klein, the Disney Company, Dooney & Bourke, Ralph Lauren-Polo, Tommy Hilfinger, Guess?, Addidas, Rolex, and others. Twenty-six defendants have pled guilty thus far to 255 felony counts of trademark infringement, including one on May 6, 1997, for 8 counts of trademark infringement. These cases were investigated by the Charlotte Field Office, and prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Walter C. Holton, Jr., and Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold Husser of the Middle District of North Carolina.

CLEVELAND FBI:

• Abdur Akram: Akram was charged on April 23, 1997, with one count of trafficking in copyright infringing goods, after he was arrested with 4500 allegedly counterfeit copies of motion picture video cassettes and approximately 7500 allegedly counterfeit copies of audio cassettes in his possession. The case is being investigated by the Cleveland Field Office, and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Emily M. Sweeney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Polster of the Northern District of Ohio.

DALLAS FBI:

• Khalid Bader: Bader was indicted on April 29, 1997, on five counts of manufacturing and distributing copyright infringing music cassette tapes, and arrested on May 5, 1997. Bader's counterfeiting factory was shut down, and more than $1.8 million worth of counterfeit tapes were seized. This case is being investigated by the Dallas Field Office, and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Worley of the Northern District of Texas.

• Two Seizures: On April 10, 1997, the FBI executed a search warrant on a Dallas-area local computer distributer and seized pirated Microsoft software valued at $88,500 and re-marked (counterfeit) Intel Corporation central processing units (CPUs) valued at more than $94,000. On April 25, 1997, the FBI seized 1,200 re-marked Intel Corp CPUs valued at more than $500,000. This case is being investigated by the Dallas Field Office, and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Bolen of the Northern District of Texas.

DETROIT FBI:

• Hoseboom: In Detroit, 22 people were indicted for criminal copyright infringement on April 23, 1997, for their alleged role in a conspiracy to distribute more than 10,000 counterfeit motion picture videos. The case was investigated by the Detroit Field Office, and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Saul A. Green and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Murphy of the Eastern District of Michigan.

• Elaina Salerno: In Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 25, 1997, Salerno was indicted on charges of distributing trademark infringing leather goods. The case was investigated by the Detroit Field Office, and will be prosecuted by United States Attorney Michael H. Dettmer and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Woods of the Western District of Michigan.

MINNEAPOLIS FBI:

• Fulton J. Hanson: In Minneapolis, a two-count indictment for trafficking in copyrighted motion pictures was returned on April 16, 1997, against Hanson, an owner of two video rental outlets, for allegedly making unauthorized copies of copyrighted videotapes, which he rented out to customers. The FBI began its investigation when a consumer complained that a tape he rented at one of the defendant's stores contained 10 minutes of a local Minneapolis newscast at the beginning of the video. The case is being investigated by the Minneapolis Field Office and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney David E. Lillihaug and Assistant U.S. Attorney Wilhelmina M. Wright of the District of Minnesota.

NEW HAVEN FBI:

• Mohammad Housseini, et al. : In New Haven, Connecticut, a federal grand jury returned an indictment on May 6, 1997 against Mohammad Housseini, Ebdolah Husseini, and Ali Khalil charging conspiracy and trafficking in copyrighted motion pictures. This case is being investigated by the New Haven Field Office, and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Christopher Droney and Assistant U.S. Attorney Calvin Kurimai.

OMAHA FBI:

• Patrick Kennedy: Prior to the beginning of a trial set to commence on April 4, 1997, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Kennedy pled guilty on March 27, 1997, to one count of trafficking in counterfeit apparel. The defendant purchased second quality tee-shirts for approximately $1 and then stenciled the registered trademarks of such manufacturers as Guess, NIKE, No Fear, Bum Equipment, Bugle Boy and Union Bay onto the tee-shirts. The estimated retail value of defendant's counterfeiting operation is more than $300,000. The case was investigated by the Omaha Field Office and was prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Steven J. Rapp and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Wright of the Northern District of Iowa.

SAN FRANCISCO FBI:

• Slipped Disc: In San Jose, California, two related cases involving illegal production and distribution of copyright-infringing software resulted in four guilty pleas on April 1, 4, and 28, 1997. In one case, Ian Szymanowski pled guilty to one count of criminal copyright infringement. Between December 17, 1996 and January 16, 1997, Szymanowski had sold to an undercover FBI agent more than 1,700 copies of CD-ROMs containing infringing copies of popular business software and computer games. Szymanowski smuggled the software in from Hong Kong, where he was able to purchase them for about $5 or $6 apiece.

  In a related case, Angel Martin, Yoabin Perez, and John Poth each pled guilty to one count of criminal copyright infringement for selling more than 2,700 infringing CD-ROMs. Some of these CDROMs were supplied by Szymanowski. Both cases were investigated by the San Francisco Field Office, in conjunction with the U.S. Customs Service, and were prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Michael J. Yamaguchi and Assistant U.S. Attorney Amber Rosen of the Northern District of California.

• Inder and Geeta Deot: On April 30, 1997, a federal grand jury in San Jose returned an indictment against Inder Dot and Geeta Dot charging criminal copyright violations. The defendants were indicted for their role in selling counterfeit Microsoft computer software to Cindy Wang and Jean Liu, who in turn exported the counterfeit software to Vancouver, Canada, where they owned computer software outlets. Wang and Liu pled guilty in April 1996, and Liu pled guilty in March 1997, to trafficking in copyright infringing material. Between January 1994 and October 1995, the Deots allegedly sold counterfeit Microsoft software totaling more than $500,000 to Wang and Liu. This case was investigated by the San Francisco Field Office, in cooperation with the U.S. Customs Service and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Michael J. Yamaguchi and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Keane of the Northern District of California.

SEATTLE FBI:

• John Hardin: On April 24, 1997, a federal grand jury in Seattle returned a hree- count indictment against Hardin charging him with trafficking in copyright infringing CD-ROMs containing computer software. More than $50,000 worth of merchandise was seized. This case is being investigated by the Seattle Field Office and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Katrina C. Pflaumer and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lawrence Lincoln.

ST. LOUIS FBI:

• Mamadou Sow, et al.: On April 4, 1997, the FBI arrested Sow, Hassani Koundourou, and Abdoulaya Fall, who were allegedly selling counterfeit motion picture videos at a flea market in St. Louis, Missouri, and seized approximately 2,300 counterfeit video tapes. On April 20, 1997, a federal grand jury charged each defendant with one count of trafficking in copyrighted material. The case is being investigated by the St. Louis Field Office and will be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Edward L. Dowd, Jr., and Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Marcus of the Eastern District of Missouri.

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