A Flushing couple was recently arrested for operating a counterfeit DVD ring out of their apartment and selling the illegal copies around Nassau County in Long Island.
Authorities were first tipped off in April after a diner owner reported that Xing Ming Wang and Xiao Yu Zheng, both 48, would come to the diner each Thursday to peddle the DVDs. Working alongside an investigator from the Motion Picture Association of America, the District Attorney’s office found the DVDs to be counterfeit.
In subsequent months, investigators purchased a number of DVDs from the couple.
“The defendants are alleged to have run a sophisticated pirating operation out of their Queens home and went store to store selling DVDs in East Meadow,” Madeline Singas, Acting Nassau County District Attorney, said in a statement. “Counterfeiting is a crime and will not be tolerated in Nassau County.”
Upon arrest, the couple were charged with Failure to Disclose the Origin of a Recording in the 1st degree, Scheme to Defraud in the 1st Degree, Trademark Counterfeiting in the 2nd degree and Trademark Counterfeiting in the 3rd degree.