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Fayetteville man gets five years in prison for DVD pirating

A Fayetteville man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution for making bootleg DVDs.

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Christian Lusardi
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — A Fayetteville man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution for making bootleg DVDs.

Christian Patrick Lusardi, 43, pleaded guilty in September to copyright infringement and trafficking in counterfeit labels.

Customs agents had investigated Lusardi since mid-2012, when they started intercepting boxes of counterfeit DVDs from China heading to Fayetteville homes, authorities said.

A search of Lusardi's home at 2537 Lull Water Drive turned up more than 35,000 pirated DVDs, along with equipment such as DVD burners and packaging equipment, authorities said.

Investigators were able to determine that he had made $1.3 million selling the DVDs online and at flea markets in Raleigh and Fayetteville.

Last year, Lusardi was accused of using fake chips in a poker tournament in Atlantic City. Casino operators had to cancel the tournament and freeze the prize money after workers found the bogus chips in a clogged toilet.

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