p2pnet news view | P2P | Music:- “This is the Big Kahuna. Anytime you shut down something as big as this, it has an impact.”

That was Graham Henderson, official mouthpiece for RIAA clone the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America), almost exactly a year ago.

He was taking credit on behalf of Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG for a raid on Audiomaxxx which according to RCMP, sent counterfeit product to “thousands of international buyers every week”.

Oops

“Following a year-long investigation by the … CRIA, the RCMP has shut down Audiomaxxx.com Ltd., a major alleged music counterfeiting operation in Winnipeg, and filed criminal charges against four individuals,” said the Winnipeg Sun.

According to the CRIA, Raj Singh Ramgotra, aka King Raj, was “arrested”. But both a  CRIA ress release and the site later admitted »»»

TORONTO, March 7 /CNW/ – In the CRIA media release of March 6, it was erroneously reported that RCMP had filed criminal charges against four people in connection with the RCMP investigation into Audiomaxxx.com Ltd. CRIA has received information that no one has been charged with an offence in respect of this matter.

In the same media release, it was also reported that Raj Singh Ramgotra was among those arrested. CRIA cannot confirm the identities of any of those arrested and therefore retracts its statement to the effect that Mr. Ramgotra was arrested.

CRIA regrets the error.

Oh dear.

‘ … not facing criminal charges … ‘

However, Ramgotra hadn’t entirely escaped the attentions of The Mounties, acting as Canadian taxpayer-funded copyright cops on behalf of the corporate music industry.

Now, “On March 3, 2009, RCMP Federal Enforcement Section, after a lengthy analysis of thousands of exhibits seized at the business premise of Audiomaxxx.com on March 5, 2008, have charged 32-year-old Rajdeep Singh Ramgotra of Winnipeg with a total of 52 charges under the Copyright Act in relations to 26 different victims,” says D Division RCMP media rep, sergeant Line Karpish (right), in an RCMP statement.

A “lengthy analysis of thousands of exhibits,” eh?

That must have cost Canadian taxpayers a buck or ten.

In May last year, “Ramgotra is presently free and expecting to go to court on May 26 to discover what, if any, charges are to be laid against him,” said p2pnet, going on »»»

One wonders who did the investigating. Was discredited RIAA ‘investigator’ MediaSentry involved?

Whoever it was, there’s a better-than-even chance CRIA president Graham Henderson was the man who contacted the police and convinced them they needed to do a little more than to simply go to Ramgotra’s house, show him the ‘evidence,’ escort him to the local cop shop, if they felt it was necessary, and then decide what, if any, further action was called for.

Instead, it was like something out of Miami Vice.

The first Ramgotra knew anything was wrong was when he heard someone hammering on his door.

“There were 10 to 20 police officers ready with guns in their hands,” he told p2pnet. “They had battering rams and everything.

“The building was surrounded and there were police all over the place, in the parking lot and everywhere.”

Ramgotra was arrested. But not for long. He was soon released with a promise to appear in court on May 26.

And just like in real Mafia-type busts where the villains are expected to try to flee the country at the first opportunity, his passport was confiscated.

At absolute worst, if Ramgotra is found guilty of anything, it’ll be copyright infrigement, not murder

Stay tuned.

raid on Audiomaxx – Huge CRIA audiomaxxx.com screw up, March 9, 2008
Winnipeg Sun – Huge piracy bust, March 7, 2008
mysteinbach.ca – Male charged under the Copyright Act, March 4, 2009
p2pnet – Audiomaxxx.com King Raj on CRIA bust,  May 14, 2008

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Viewed 1765 times