Member Of Music Piracy Group Convicted Of Conspiracy

Department of Justice, Jul 07, 2008

Barry Gitarts, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was convicted by a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, announced U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Chuck Rosenberg and Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division. U.S. District Court Judge Liam O’Grady will sentence Gitarts on Aug. 8, 2008. Gitarts faces up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release as well as being required to make full restitution.

According to the testimony and evidence presented at trial, Gitarts was a significant member of the Internet music piracy group Apocalypse Production Crew (APC) from at least June 2003 through April 2004. Records and testimony introduced at trial showed that Gitarts, using the alias  Dextro, paid for and administered a computer server located in Texas that APC group members used to upload and download hundreds of thousands of copies of pirated music, movies, software and video games. Evidence also showed that Gitarts received payment from the leader of APC.

Testimony showed that APC acted as a  first-provider or  release group” of pirated content on to the Internet. Release groups are the original sources for a majority of the pirated works distributed and downloaded via the Internet. Once a group prepares a stolen work for distribution, the material is distributed in minutes to secure computer servers throughout the world.