Inside ICE: Volume 2, Issue 22

Joint ICE-China IPR Case Brings Man To Justice In U.S.

Washington—A man arrested on charges resulting from the first joint United States-China intellectual property criminal investigation has been arraigned in federal court in Mississippi.

Randolph Hobson Guthrie, 38, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in Shanghai last July and was brought to the United States earlier this month. A bond hearing was held in federal court in California, after which Guthrie was released on a secured $1 million bond. His release was further conditioned upon surrendering his passport and submitting to home confinement with electronic monitoring. Guthrie was ordered to appear in federal court in Mississippi to face charges.

The 18-count indictment is the product of “Operation Spring”—a joint criminal law enforcement effort between ICE agents and Chinese law enforcement authorities first launched in September 2003. The indictment alleges that Guthrie was the ringleader in a conspiracy to import more than 2,000 DVDs containing unauthorized copies of motion pictures. The indictment charges Guthrie with criminal copyright and trademark infringement, illegally importing infringing goods, and money laundering.

The Department of Justice is seeking forfeiture of over $1 million in profits Guthrie made during the course of his illegal enterprise, which caused the illegal reproduction and distribution of hundreds of thousands of copyrighted works throughout the world. Nine of the charges carry a maximum sentence of five years each, six of the counts carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, and the money-laundering count carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.

“As the first joint counterfeiting investigation by ICE and Chinese authorities, this landmark case will serve as a roadmap for future intellectual property investigations,” said New Orleans ICE Special Agent-in-Charge Michael A. Holt.

The investigation, initiated by the ICE resident agent-in-charge in Gulfport, Miss., grew to include the ICE Attaché in Beijing, China, the ICE Office of Investigations in Houston and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. Based on information agents obtained during the course of their investigation concerning criminal activities occurring in China by Guthrie and others, ICE agents contacted Chinese law enforcement authorities shortly after Operation Spring was launched, leading to a partnership with the Shanghai Public Security Bureau of the Economic Crime Investigation Department of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

As a result of this unprecedented joint effort, Guthrie, along with three co-conspirators—including two Chinese nationals and another U.S. citizen—was convicted in April 2005 in the Supreme People’s Court in China for selling more than 133,000 pirated motion picture DVDs to customers in over 20 countries around the world. Guthrie was sentenced to 30 months in Chinese prison, fined approximately $60,000 and deported after serving his term.

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