Three Defendants Each Sentenced to 46 Months for Trafficking Counterfeit DVDs

COVINGTON, Ky. - Hongtao Zhu, 43, Hui Lin, 36, and He Lin, 33, were each sentenced to 46 months in federal prison on Wednesday, by U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning, for trafficking in counterfeit DVDs.

All three defendants pleaded guilty in October 2019, and admitted to conspiring to sell counterfeit DVDs, which were imported from China and sold via eBay, over a two year period.  The DVDs appeared to be genuine Disney productions when, in fact, they were not.  

As part of the judgment, the defendants will be required to pay $898,748.52 in restitution.

Under federal law, each of the defendants must serve 85 percent of their prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for five years, following their release.

Robert M. Duncan, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Kenneth Cleevely, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Postal Service – Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG), jointly made the announcement. 

The investigation was directed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with assistance provided by the Motion Picture Association.  The United States was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elaine Leonhard and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura K. Voorhees.

The year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice.  Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

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