Atlanta Jury Convicts Two Members of Group of DVD and CD Counterfeiters and Suppliers

WASHINGTON—Mamadou Sadio Barry and Moussa Baradji were convicted today for their involvement in a counterfeit DVD and CD ring, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates for the Northern District of Georgia.

After six days of trial and two hours of deliberation, a federal jury in the Northern District of Georgia found Sadio Barry and Baradji each guilty of two counts of criminal copyright infringement. On May 19, 2009, a federal grand jury indicted Sadio Barry, Baradji, and 11 other defendants allegedly involved in the counterfeit ring, charging them with various copyright, trademark, and counterfeit labels offenses.

The evidence at trial established that Baradji and Sadio Barry used space in warehouses located on Metropolitan Parkway in Atlanta to “burn” or copy DVDs and CDs. According to evidence at trial, Baradji and Sadio Barry produced and paid others to produce counterfeit labels and packaging and to assemble the final product, which Baradji and Sadio Barry sold through their retail stores. According to the evidence at trial, the defendants’ warehouse operation reproduced thousands of CDs and DVDs per week for distribution. The retail value of the corresponding authentic CDs and DVDs is at least $12 per CD and $19 per DVD.

The criminal copyright infringement charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison per count. In addition, the defendants could be fined up to $250,000 on each count. Sentencing hearings have not yet been scheduled.

Six of the defendants charged in the May 2009 indictment have pleaded guilty and one defendant is scheduled to begin trial in 2011. Two defendants, Alphadio Bah and Mamadou Simakha, are fugitives. The charges against two defendants who were on trial with Barry and Baradji, Sulaiman Jalloh and Bademba Barry, were dismissed by the court during trial. The jury acquitted a fifth defendant, Oumar Diallo, who was charged with trafficking in counterfeit labels for copyrighted materials.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Pearce in the Northern District of Georgia and Senior Counsel John H. Zacharia of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. The case was investigated by special agents of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, together with officers of the Atlanta Police Department Organized Crime Unit, College Park Police Department, and East Point Police Department. Assistance was provided by the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America.