Three U.S. men have been sentenced to jail or home confinement for their participation in so-called warez online piracy groups,
the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
The three men were sentenced Friday on copyright-infringement charges for being leading members of warez groups, which illegally
post music files online before they are released to the public, the DOJ said.
Sentenced to 15 months in jail was George S. Hayes, 31, of Danville, Virginia, who previously pleaded guilty to one count
of criminal copyright infringement related to his involvement in a pre-release music group called Chromance or CHR, the DOJ
said. Hayes was sentenced in U. S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Derek A. Borchardt, 22, of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Aaron O. Jones, 30, of Hillsboro, Oregon, both pleaded guilty to
one felony count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement for their involvement in the warez group Apocalypse Crew or
APC, the DOJ said.
Jones was sentenced to six months in prison and six months home confinement and Borchardt was sentenced to six months home
confinement by the Virginia court.
These are the first federal criminal sentences for members of pre-release music groups resulting from Operation FastLink,
an ongoing U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation crackdown against organized piracy groups allegedly responsible for most of
the initial illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games and music on the Internet.
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