A Seattle, Wash., man has become the sixth defendant convicted in federal court for his role in one of the largest software piracy schemes ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
“An investigation that began in Kansas City, Mo., uncovered one of the largest software piracy schemes ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice, with tentacles reaching into cities across the United States and overseas,” Dickinson said. “Investigators seized more than $20 million in assets from conspirators who are estimated to have sold in excess of $100 million worth of illicit, unauthorized and counterfeit software products to thousands of online customers.
“Software piracy is a significant economic crime that victimizes not only software developers and manufacturers, but unwitting consumers,” Dickinson said. “Today’s announcement is part of an ongoing investigation. We can’t provide additional information about the investigation at this time, but we expect that more offenders soon will be brought to justice.”
“Pirating software, particularly on this massive scale, damages the American economy, hurts private businesses and harms the unsuspecting buyer,” said acting Special Agent in Charge James Gibbons of HSI Chicago. “These plea agreements mark a historic day for our HSI special agents, and our law enforcement partners, in the fight to stop the theft of intellectual property.”
Rex Yang, 37, of Seattle, waived his right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays on Wednesday, Dec. 16, to a federal information that charges him with participating in a criminal conspiracy from Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 10, 2014.
Yang, who owned and operated Digisoft, LLC., and Premiere Software, Inc., is the sixth and final defendant to plead guilty – in separate, but related, cases – in this stage of an ongoing criminal investigation that originated with a Kansas City, Mo., company. Many of these defendants, and their related entities, had been sued civilly for willful trademark and copyright infringement by Microsoft and other software developers.
The multi-million dollar scheme, with co-conspirators operating overseas in the People’s Republic of China, Singapore and Germany and across the United States, illegally sold millions of dollars of Microsoft Corp. and Adobe Systems, Inc., software product key codes through a charitable organization and several online businesses. (Product key codes are used to obtain full access to unlocked, licensed versions of various copyrighted software programs.) Over 170,000 product activation key codes were distributed by conspirators, and many of these key codes were used and activated numerous times each.
Investigators seized more than $20.6 million in assets, including $10,188,777 seized from bank and investment accounts, 10 luxury automobiles and 27 parcels of real estate with a total market valuation of $9,739,399, through federal forfeitures. Affidavits filed in those forfeiture complaints estimate that conspirators reaped about $30 million in profits from customers who paid more than $100 million for the software.
In the course of this investigation, search warrants have been executed at 13 separate residential and business locations in five different states.
Kansas City, Mo.: USA v. Ross
Casey Lee Ross, 29, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty on June 11, 2015, to his role in the conspiracy. The investigation began when federal agents in Kansas City, Mo., learned in 2013 that Ross, the owner of Software Slashers, had purchased (and redistributed) tens of thousands of illegitimate and unauthorized Microsoft product key codes and counterfeit product key cards from sources in China.
Ross admitted that he purchased approximately 30,159 product key codes and counterfeit product key cards. Ross purchased these product key codes at prices well below that of the estimated retail price. In many cases, they were distributed on counterfeit card stock intended to make it appear as if they were genuine Microsoft products.
Ross distributed large quantities of these product key codes and counterfeit Microsoft product key cards to co-conspirators in the United States, who in turn sold the product key codes and counterfeit product key cards through their respective Web sites as well as on e-commerce sites such as eBay or Amazon. Ross admitted that he received $1,387,595 from Rex Yang, Jr. of Seattle, Wash.; $1,127,190 from Matthew Lockwood, 38, of Denver, Colo.; $875,630 from Reza Davachi, 41, of Damascus, Md.; and payment for approximately 2,569 unauthorized product key codes from Arunachalam Annamalai, 48, a citizen of India residing in Las Vegas, Nev.
Seattle, Wash.: USA v. Yang
Yang admitted that he possessed approximately 10,205 Microsoft certificates of authenticity. In addition to his purchase from Ross, Yang paid $402,929 to Davachi to acquire various software and software components. Yang also admitted that he sold various software items to Lockwood for $1,574,054.
Denver, Colo.: USA v. Lockwood
Lockwood pleaded guilty on June 11, 2015, to his role in the conspiracy. In addition to his purchases from Ross and Yang, Lockwood (doing business as Discount Mountain, Inc.) paid Davachi $1,243,570 for counterfeit, illicit, and/or unauthorized software and software components.
Lockwood admitted that he obtained approximately 6,165 certificates of authenticity, 4,996 “Lenovo” product key cards and approximately 11,000 unauthorized product key codes.
Baltimore, Md.: USA v. Davachi
Davachi pleaded guilty on Oct. 20, 2015, to his role in the conspiracy. Davachi admitted that, in addition to his purchases from Ross, he paid $672,300 to a counterfeiter within the People’s Republic of China as payment for unauthorized product key codes and counterfeit product key cards.
Federal agents seized approximately 5,040 Microsoft operating system certificates of authenticity – valued at $1.26 million – while executing search warrants at Davachi’s residence and business. Davachi also admitted that he used Project Contact Africa, a charitable organization, as a way of operating his for-profit Rez Candles, Inc. business, which sold a host of items online, including illicit, unauthorized, and counterfeit software. Davachi was aware that the stated purpose of the charity was to “support a medical clinic in Africa for needy families and children” and children suffering from HIV.
Davachi’s role was managing and maintaining the on-line presence of the Project Contact Africa eBay/PayPal charity since January 2004. Over this time, Davachi actively used the Project Contact Africa charity’s eBay/PayPal account to sell unauthorized, illicit, and counterfeit software and software components through eBay, and used the charity’s PayPal account to facilitate payments for these software components.
Davachi managed and maintained the online presence for the Project Contact Africa charity by a person identified in court documents as Individual F, in exchange for a payment to Individual F of approximately $2,000 per month beginning in early 2012. By using the charity’s account to sell his items through the eBay charity store, Davachi saved thousands of dollars per month that he would have otherwise had to pay eBay in the form of various fees. During this time, the Project Contact Africa eBay/PayPal account took in approximately $12 million in revenue, and eBay/PayPal sustained losses of approximately $908,231 due to the waived fees for that were intended to go to this charitable organization.
Customers of the Project Contact Africa eBay charity store were under the impression that “100 percent” of the proceeds of sales were intended to go to the charity when, in fact, Davachi and Individual F agreed that only a portion of the proceeds would go to the charity; the remainder would go to Davachi and Rez Candles, Inc., which, in turn, would use these proceeds to purchase new inventory. Davachi and Individual F intended to repeat this cycle for their benefit. Davachi also admitted that he allowed numerous other individuals, including Ross, to use the Project Contact Africa eBay/PayPal charity store to sell their own items at a significantly reduced amount as compared to other for-profit sales methods on eBay, with the understanding that Ross, and others, would pay back to Davachi a portion of their savings.
Las Vegas, Nev.: USA v. Annamalai
Annamalai pleaded guilty on July 29, 2015, to his role in the software piracy conspiracy. Annamalai is the owner and operator of Vegascart, LLC. Annamalai admitted that he purchased approximately 2,569 Microsoft software product key codes from Ross between March and December 2013. These software key codes are calculated at a loss amount of $250 each, therefore, the relevant loss amount in this matter is estimated at $642,250.
Seattle, Wash.: USA v. Schwartz
Jake Schwartz, 28, of Seattle, Wash., owner of JHS Enterprises, Inc., pleaded guilty on Oct. 27, 2015, to misprision of a felony. Schwartz admitted that he knew about Yang’s involvement in the conspiracy and helped to conceal it. After Digisoft was sued for willful copyright and trademark infringement by Adobe Systems, Schwartz agreed to form a new corporation with Yang, Soft Deals, LLC.
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Daly; Assistant U.S. Attorney Curt Bohling is responsible for the civil proceedings. They were investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
