All USAO Press Releases

RICHARD BRENDAN GLOBENSKY stole the items while he was employed by Augusta National as a warehouse assistant.

A worker at a DVD and Blu-ray manufacturing and distribution company used by major movie studios was arrested today in Memphis, Tennessee, for allegedly stealing DVDs and Blu-rays of blockbuster movies from the company and selling them before their official scheduled release dates. A digital copy of at least one of the stolen Blu-rays was illegally distributed tens of millions of times over the internet, causing the copyright owner tens of millions of dollars in losses.

Varun Gupta, 44, who previously lived and worked in Oregon, pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing trade secrets taken from his previous employer.

The companies allegedly conspired with four individuals to unlawfully possess trade secrets belonging to Philips Medical Systems.

HYTERA COMMUNICATIONS CORP. pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy to steal trade secrets.

KLEVIS NAKO, 24, of Worcester, Massachusetts, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver in Hartford to 60 days of imprisonment, followed by 18 months of supervised release, for his participation in a conspiracy to sell counterfeit luxury and designer brand watches imported from China.

The task force will serve to support the work of the Government Supply Chain Investigations Unit, led by the Department of Homeland Security – Homeland Security Investigations, based in Washington, D.C. 

Shane Burdue, 46, of Toledo, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary, for smuggling goods into the United States, trafficking in counterfeit goods, and wire fraud.

Today, in federal court in Central Islip, Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of the People’s Republic of China and a Canadian and German national, pleaded guilty to conspiring to send trade secrets that belonged to a leading U.S.-based electric vehicle company.

IZEDIN KIMCA, 24, of Waterbury, DENIS NAKO, 24, of Worcester, Massachusetts, and his brother, KLEVIS NAKO, 23, of Worcester, were arrested yesterday on federal criminal complaints charging them with selling and conspiring to sell counterfeit luxury and designer brand watches through websites and social media accounts.

A complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging Klaus Pflugbeil, a resident of the People’s Republic of China and Canadian national, and Yilong Shao, a Chinese national, with conspiring to send trade secrets that belonged to a leading U.S.-based electric vehicle company.  Pflugbeil and Shao are operators of a PRC-based business that sold technology used for the manufacture of batteries, including batteries used in electric vehicles.