Operation Site Down

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Operation Site Down was the umbrella name for a law enforcement initiative conducted by the FBI and law enforcement agents from ten other countries which resulted in a raid on targets on June 29, 2005. Three separate undercover investigations were involved, based in Chicago (Operation Jolly Roger), Charlotte, and San Jose (Operation Copycat). The raid consisted of approximately 70 searches in the United States and approximately 20 others in 10 other countries in an effort to disrupt and dismantle many of the leading warez groups which distribute and trade in copyrighted software, movies, music, and games on the Internet.

As of April 6, 2006, the US Department of Justice stated that Operation Copycat is "ongoing," 32 individuals have been charged, and 20 have been convicted. As part of each plea agreement, each defendant has agreed to forfeit the equipment that was seized during the federal search warrants executed on June 29, 2005. The current tally is:

118 computers;
13 laptops;
4,567 infringed CDs and DVDs;
413 VHS tapes and floppies;
28 keyboards and monitors;
5 digital cameras;
28 PlayStations/Xbox's;
7 computer towers; and
a Plasma TV, cell phones, speakers, an MP3 player, and a DSL player

Operation Site Down has primarily targeted ISO (movies and software) groups. TV, 0-day, and MP3 groups seem relatively unaffected^{[citation needed]}.

1 Summary
2 Groups/sites affected
3 Bust locations
4 Cases
5 Sentences
6 Similarities to The Scene miniseries
7 References
8 See also

[edit] Summary

The San Jose-based undercover investigation proceeded as follows:

An FBI Undercover Agent, who goes by the alias griffen, created two California Gigabit Top Sites (located at Hurricane Electric): LAD and CHUD
Chirayu Patel (nebula), a member of Boozers, becomes a SiteOp on LAD and CHUD which are both hosted in Fremont, CA (which is where Patel resides).
Patel, through his friends and sources, acquired major groups affiliates such as Centropy and TDA (The Divine Alcoholics) to the two fed topsites.
Over the two years that both LAD and CHUD were online, the FBI collected IPs of some of the top piracy providers.
FBI was able to get Patel's address because he sent griffen some motorcycle stunt DVDs via mail and gave his return address on the envelope
Centropy leader, who goes by the alias of both marvel and cartel, was busted in Indiana.
The Centropy Herbie release was on the server pre'd. Meaning that even though the Herbie release was released a day after the raids, it had already been available on topsites.

The Chicago-based undercover investigation involved a witness cooperating with the FBI who set up the RM2 server for RiSCISO members. Details can be found here.

[edit] Groups/sites affected

Affected warez groups include:

RiSCISO (iso utils)
Myth (pc-game rips)
TDA (iso utils)
LND (iso industry utils, eg CAD/CAM)
GFZ (courier group- US/KR iso division)
HOODLUM (pc-game iso)
VENGEANCE (pc-game iso)
Centropy (vcd, svcd and dvdr movies)
WastedTime (vcd movies)
Alec's Game Copying Service (PC Games, PS2)
ThP (divx, tv-dvdr and dvdr movies)
Corrupt (dvdr movies)
GAMERZ (ps2/xbox games iso)
ADMITONE (vcd movies)
HELLBOUND (dvdr movies, tv-dvdr, classic dvdr)
KGS (vcd movies)
BBX (anime dvdr)
KHG (anime dvdr)
NOX (vcd movies)
NFR (svcd movies)
CDZ (ps2/xbox games iso)
TUN (vcd movies)
BHP (tv-dvdr and dvdr movies)

Contrary to some speculation, Wastedtime was not a group that was created by the FBI, they were actually remnants of Many Classic Warez groups, led by their highly respected leader "Bastard".

Affected topsites:

LAD (West-coast US, hardware/link provided by undercover agents)
CHUD (West-coast US, hardware/link provided by undercover agents)
SC (West-coast US, link provided by undercover agents)
VS (West-coast US, link provided by undercover agents)
RSN (Netherlands, busted?)
TNA (California, busted?)
BB (California, busted?)
TWH (Netherlands, busted?)
LW (Lithuania, busted?)

While few arrests had been made by the time of the first press releases, repercussions ran deep in the warez scene. Countless sites closed as a direct response to the busts, and many active scene members went into hiding.

[edit] Bust locations

Countries

[edit] Cases

On July 14, 2005, Justice officials in Northern California announced the indictment of four men as part of Operation Copycat, "the largest and local part of the coordinated international law enforcement action known as Operation Site Down." They are:

David M. Fish, 24, of Watertown, CT
Chirayu Patel (a.k.a. nebula), 23, of Fremont, CA, pleaded guilty on November 14, 2005 to conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement and to violating the NET Act. He was a site operator.
William Veyna, 34, of Chatsworth, CA, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement and to violating the NET Act on October 11, 2005.
Nathaniel E. Lovell, 22, of Boulder, CO, pleaded guilty on November 30, 2005 to conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement and to violating the NET Act. He was an equipment supplier for the warez sites.

On July 28, 2005, Justice officials announced that eight men had been indicted in Charlotte, NC in connection with this operation. All were charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. They are:

Shawn W. Laemmrich, 30, of Calumet, MI
David Lee Pruett, 34, of Auburn, WA
Alexander C. Von Eremeef, 30, of Belmont, MA
George C. Stoutenburgh of Bennet, CO
Jerry M. Melvin Jr. (aka "Vladamir"), 24, of Roanoke, VA
David Chen Pui, 26, of Fountain Valley, CA
Scott John Walls, 45, of Spokane, WA
Franklin Edward Littell of Martinsville, IN

Two persons have been convicted under the new "camming" statute (unauthorized recording of motion pictures in a movie theater), including the first conviction in the country under the April 2005 statute:

September 26, 2005: Curtis Salisbury, 19, of St. Charles, Missouri, pleaded guilty to two charges under the recently enacted "Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005." He will be the first person convicted in the country under new statutes concerning the use of recording equipment in movie theaters and making a commercially distributed movie available for public consumption on a computer network. Investigators located Salisbury after analyzing the "dots" used on movies to designate the specific theater where the film was released. Salisbury admitted that, as an employee at the Des Peres Cinema 14 Theater Complex in St. Louis, Missouri, he used a camcorder to make and transmit copies of the movies. After the theater had closed to the public, he connected the camcorder equipment directly to the projector sound board while recording films in the theater. He also used a mini-disc recorder to capture the film sound that he later synchronized with the video using his computer to enhance the sound quality. His goal was to sell these unauthorized recordings by uploading them to the warez site. The movies included "The Perfect Man," which he uploaded on June 21, 2005, and "Bewitched," which he uploaded on June 28, 2005.

April 17, 2006: Susan Rempe (aka cin/cinnamon), 55, formerly of Salinas, California (presently Bloomfield, New Mexico), pleaded guilty to "camming" or unauthorized recording of motion pictures in a movie theater. She admitted serving as a "cammer" by using audiovisual equipment to make and transmit unauthorized copies of movies, and portions thereof including sound, which were then uploaded to a warez site. She was employed at the Century Park 7 Theaters in Salinas, California. Some of the infringed movies included "A Lot Like Love," which she uploaded on May 20, 2005, and "Madagascar," which she uploaded on June 5, 2005 to the same warez server.

Three persons have been convicted under the new statute for uploading pre-releases on the Internet (criminal copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work on a computer network), including:

September 26, 2005: Curtis Salisbury, 19, of St. Charles, Missouri, noted above (first conviction in the country under new statute)

March 13, 2006: Matthew Fong, 19, of Miami, Florida , pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work on a computer network, in addition to other copyright charges

May 22, 2006: Paul Sherman, of Malden, Massachusetts, a film critic, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting criminal copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work on a computer network. Sherman admitted that between May 2002 and June 2005, he sold approximately 117 movies to a known warez supplier.

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On November 17, 2005, Justice officials in Northern California announced the indictment of five men. They are:

Moises Nunez (a.k.a. Cartel) , 33, of Glendale, CA
Stephen Brown (a.k.a. Blahz) , 36, of Indianapolis, IN
Oscar Martinez (a.k.a. Janiero) , 25, of San Diego, CA
Paul Aleman (a.k.a. Panic/Hemi), 25, of Menifee, CA, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement by electronic means and copyright infringement by electronic means on January 9, 2006. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8, 2006.
Deston Evans (a.k.a. Hammer), 21, of Galax, VA

On January 26, 2006, Justice officials in Northern California announced the indictment of ten men. They are:

Matthew Thompson, 22, of Lubbock, TX
David Siloac, 27, of Clinton Township, MI
Johnny Russell, 34, of Spring, TX
Eric Rolfe, 22, of Columbia, MO
Phillip Templeton, 24, of Kingsport, TN
Ali Ghani, 28, of Irvine, CA
Matthew Fong, 19, of Miami, FL
Jose Soler, 30, of Elmburst (Queens), NY
Donovan Kargenian, 31, of El Cajon, CA
Gregory Dickman, 25, of Wilmington, NC

Others indicted in Northern California are:

Ryan Zeman, 23, of Rohnert Park, CA, was indicted on September 13, 2005 in the Northern District of California and pleaded guilty to violating the NET Act on October 3, 2005. The maximum sentence is three years. Zeman is scheduled to be sentenced February 27, 2006.
Daniel Van Horn, 32, of Wantagh, NY, pleaded guilty to violating the NET Act on November 14, 2005.
Philip Kang, 22, of Wayne, NJ, pleaded guilty to copyright infringement by electronic means on January 9, 2006. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 7, 2006.
Mark G. Carter, II, 28, of Azusa, CA, pleaded guilty on December 12, 2005 to one count of violating the NET Act, as charged in the Northern District of California Case. He also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States in the District of Connecticut.

On February 1, 2006, Justice officials in Illinois announced the indictment of 19 individuals allegedly involved with RiSCISO. All 19 defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and 15 of the 19 were charged with one additional count each of copyright infringement. They are:

Sean Patrick O’Toole (a.k.a. chucky), 26, of Perth, Australia; allegedly the defacto leader of RiSCISO, who set policy for the group, decided who had access to the servers, and uploaded copyrighted material from remote sites he personally controlled
Vahid Pazirandeh (a.k.a. vman), 25, of San Diego; a former university employee, who allegedly held a leadership role in RiSCISO and served as a site operator responsible for establishing, maintaining, administering, and supporting many of thegroup’s warez servers
Linda Waldron (a.k.a. bajantara), 57, of Barbados
Paul Yau (a.k.a. ann), 32, of Houston
Sandy Fury (a.k.a. asylum), 39, of West Hollywood, CA
Marc Bartel (a.k.a. biosprint), 33, of Overland Park, KS
Tu Nguyen (a.k.a. dray), 29, of Chicago
Richard Balter(a.k.a. ducky), 46, of Middle Island, NY
Danny Lee (a.k.a. messy) ,31, of Rosemead, CA
Peter Andrew Holland (a.k.a. thebinary), 22, of Middletown, OH
Jason Dobyns (a.k.a. supafly), 26, of Tustin, CA
David Lewis (a.k.a. keymaster), 33, of Costa Mesa, CA
Matthew Cittell (a.k.a. keymaster), 27, of Costa Mesa, CA
Matthew Ploessel (a.k.a. kkits and stikk), 24, of Seattle, WA
Joseph Toland (a.k.a. anim8), 44, of Rochester Hills, MI
Fred Amaya (a.k.a. audiovox), 41, of Chino Hills, CA
Lance Warner (a.k.a. transform), 29, of Portola Hills, CA
Gregg Piecyhna, 51, of New York City
Jeremiah Stevens(a.k.a. ^mort^), 27, of Jasper, IN

On April 6, 2006, Justice officials in Northern California announced that five more had been charged with violations of federal copyright laws. They are:

Allen Soares, 19, of Pleasanton, CA
Shon Peterman, 33, of Wichita, KS
Tom Leung, 53, of Cupertino, CA
Ray Morada, 32, of Washington, DC
Josh McAleer, 19, of San Juan Capistrano, CA

Defendants Soares, Leung and Morada were also charged with violating the No Electronic Theft Act (known as the "NET Act") for copyright infringement by electronic means over the Internet.

The following person has been convicted of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement:

May 22, 2006: Shon Peterman, 33, of Wichita, Kansas

[edit] Sentences

Mark G. Carter, II, 29, of Upland, California, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment, and ordered to pay $34,964 in restitution. Judge Whyte also sentenced the defendant to a three year period of supervised release. On December 12, 2005, Mr Carter pleaded guilty to one count of violating the NET Act and to one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. The defendant will begin serving the sentence on October 26, 2006.

Ryan Zeman, 23, of Rohnert Park, California, was sentenced to three years probation, four months home confinement, four months community confinement, and required to pay $120,000 in restitution. On October 3, 2005, Mr. Zeman pleaded guilty to violating the NET Act, 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319(c)(1), and aiding and abetting.

Gregory Dickman, 25, of Wilmington, North Carolina, was sentenced to 8 months home confinement, three years of probation and ordered to pay $31,515 in restitution. On April 10, 2006, Mr. Dickman pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and to violating the NET Act, 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319(c)(1), and aiding and abetting.

Johnny Russell, 34, of Spring, Texas, was sentenced to 8 months in a community confinement facility, three years of probation, and ordered to pay a $11,508 in restitution. On April 10, 2006, Mr. Russell pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit criminal copyright infringement in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and to violating the NET Act, 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(B) and 18 U.S.C. § 2319(c)(1), and aiding and abetting.

[edit] Similarities to The Scene miniseries

An online film series titled The Scene is a fictional take on the actual piracy scene. Some claims have been made that there are coincidences between the series and actual events.

The main character is Brian Sandro, an NYU student, who also pirates millions dollars of Hollywood movies in his spare time. Sandro heads the movie release group, CPX.

In episode nine, released in the beginning of June 2005, Sandro, whose IRC alias is Drosan, is messaged by a member named Gryffin. Gryffin was earlier looking for members of CPX in a different IRC channel. Gryffin's friend's father apparently works at a film studio and Gryffin is asking to be a supplier to CPX. The Gryffin character in the scene comes off as a little mysterious, but otherwise harmless.

However, it was pointed out that his name is similar to the nickname of the actual lead FBI agent, Griffen, responsible for the busts in Operation Site Down. Also, in the messaging session between Drosan and Gryffin, the music playing in the background periodically says "He works for the FBI" in a trancelike fashion.

Jun Productions, the creators of The Scene, deny all accounts that they had insider information about the busts and that the similarities are only coincidences.

However, according to a Slyck posting, Gryffin the character and Griffen the FBI agent shared the same vhost the.yankees-suck.net. The vhost resolves to Hurricane Electric, which is the location of the two Fed topsites: CHUD and LAD.

Furthermore, Bruce Forrest, who was quoted in a Wired article [1] as a self-proclaimed "double agent", was an active correspondent for The Scene series. While Jun Productions claim that Forrest had no involvement in the ninth episode (he supposedly left on his own terms after the eighth episode), some speculate that it could have been an elaborate warning by Forrest about the impending Federal busts.