Winnipeg Music Pirate Fined More than Half a Million Dollars

December 23, 2013December 23, 2013 Alan Cross 0 Comments

The biggest cases of music and video piracy Canada has ever seen involves a Winnipeg company called Audiomaxxx. The operation, run by a guy named Raj Singh Ramgotra, was said to be twenty times larger than any other such operation ever busted.

Ramgotra ran an illegal duplicating deal, selling CDs and DVDs for between $3.99 and $5.99 each on Audiomaxxx.com, mostly of small-time reggae and Caribbean performers. But when his Winnipeg offices were raided in 2008, they also found illegal dupes of Jay Z, Nelly Furtado and Shania Twain.

The case finally made it to trial last week. Ramgotra pleased guilty and was given a two-year conditional sentence and ordered to pay $550,000 in restitution.

(Via the Globe and Mail)

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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