British man gets 22 months in prison over global movie piracy -U.S. judge

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A British man was sentenced on Monday to a 22-month jail time period after admitting involvement in a world piracy ring that prompted main losses for film and TV manufacturing studios by distributing unreleased content material on-line.

George Bridi, a 52-year-old former disk jockey, had already spent 17-1/2 months in jail since his arrest in Cyprus over his work for the Sparks Group, which prosecutors referred to as a world on-line piracy group.

Bridi pleaded responsible in November to a copyright infringement conspiracy cost.

“Infringement of U.S. copyrights is an enormous downside in our economic system,” U.S. District Decide Richard Berman stated. “It’s doubly troubling that it may be performed … from exterior the U.S.”

The Manhattan decide stated Bridi performed an “vital supervisory function” within the piracy scheme. Along with imposing the 22-month jail time period, Berman ordered the defendant to pay $120,000 in restitution.

Sparks allegedly price studios tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} over practically a decade by leaking films and TV reveals earlier than their scheduled launch dates.

Prosecutors stated the group concocted bogus causes to acquire early copies of copyrighted DVDs and Blu-Ray discs from wholesale distributors.

Sparks then used computer systems to override the discs’ copyright protections, generally known as “cracking” or “ripping,” and recoded the discs with such names as “Drones,” “Rovers,” “Geckos” and “Sprinter” so that they could possibly be shared on-line, prosecutors stated.

Earlier than being sentenced, Bridi stated he had gone down the “mistaken path,” and that his actions harm studios and staff.

“I’m deeply remorseful,” Bridi stated. “I’m actually sorry for what I’ve carried out.”

Prosecutors had sought a 27- to 33-month jail time period, mirroring federal sentencing suggestions.

Bridi’s lawyer sought his shopper’s launch, saying he had spent sufficient time behind bars and wished to reunite together with his wife and twin teenage sons.

The defendant was born and raised in Ghana, and in 2012 moved to England, the place he lived on the Isle of Wight. He was arrested in August 2020 and extradited a 12 months later.

Two different defendants have additionally been charged within the case. Jonatan Correa, pleaded responsible to a copyright infringement conspiracy cost and was sentenced final Could to 2-1/4 years of supervised launch, whereas Umar Ahmad of Norway is at massive.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)