A Memphis man was arrested and charged with stealing DVD and Blu-ray discs of unreleased movies and sharing ripped digital copies online before their release.
37-year-old Steven R. Hale worked for an unnamed multinational company used by major movie studios that manufactured and distributed DVDs and Blu-rays of movies. Between February 2021 and March 2022, Hale allegedly stole many discs of unreleased movies that were being prepared for commercial distribution in the United States.
According to a Thursday press release issued by the Justice Department, these “pre-release” DVDs and Blu-rays were later sold through various e-commerce sites.
The list of stolen DVDs and Blu-rays includes “F9: The Fast Saga,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Godzilla v. Kong,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Dune,” and “Black Widow.”
He is also accused of ripping the pre-release “Spider-Man: No Way Home” Blu-ray and sharing online a digital copy extracted from the Blu-ray by bypassing the encryption that prevents unauthorized copying.
“That digital copy was then illegally made available over the internet more than a month before the Blu-ray’s official scheduled release date,” the DOJ said. “Copies of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars.”
Prosecutors charged the defendant with one count of interstate transportation of stolen goods and two counts of criminal copyright infringement. If convicted, Hale faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on the interstate transportation of stolen goods count and five years on each criminal copyright infringement count.
Earlier this week, New York prosecutors said that two people working at a third-party contractor for the StubHub online ticket marketplace made $635,000 after reselling almost 1,000 stolen tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and other high-profile events, including Ed Sheeran concerts, Adele concerts, the US Open Tennis Championships, and NBA games.
20-year-old Tyrone Rose and 31-year-old Shamara Simmons, who worked for Sutherland Global Services in Jamaica, were arrested in New York City and now face a potential maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
