An Atlanta man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for his involvement in a counterfeit DVD and CD ring, authorities said.
Ibrahim Diallo, 27, of Atlanta, was one of 13 people charged in a May 19, 2009, indictment alleging various copyright, trademark and counterfeit goods offenses.
Diallo pleaded guilty in September 2009 to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, to traffic in counterfeit goods and to traffic in counterfeit labels, according to U.S. attorney Sally Quillian Yates. She said Diallo admitted to selling pirated CDs and DVDs along with counterfeit labels and packaging at his plea hearing.
In February 2011, four others were sentenced for their involvement in selling the pirated items, Yates said. They are Mamadou Sadio Barry, 40, sentenced to five years; Moussa Baradji, 29, sentenced to four years, 2 months; Sedikey Sankano, 42, sentenced to two years; and Won Ahn, 69, who was placed on probation for one year.
“The victims in this case are the thousands of Americans who earn their livelihoods from the legitimate creation and performance of popular music and movies," Yates said. "This group of defendants stole from them by mass-producing counterfeit music CDs and DVD movies in a pirating operation that may have been the largest of its kind in the Southeastern United States.”
The court found that the defendants distributed copies of products that, if legitimate, would have been valued at more than $2 million.
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