Randolph Hobson Guthrie III

Randolph Hobson Guthrie III (AKA: Randy Guthrie) born 1967 is an American businessman arrested in Shanghai, China July 2, 2004 as the culmination of Operation Spring - the first joint Chinese and American effort to enforce intellectual property laws.. Randy was born into the Guthrie-Phipps family, members of Phipps family and shareholders in Bessemer Trust, and was diagnosed with Aspberger's syndrome. Randy's clause in his trust stated that he would be paid $5000 per month, as long as he lived outside New York city. Guthrie was Deported from China on October 1, 2005 after serving only 5 months of his sentence. After counting time served before his trial (he was denied bail), total incarceration in China was about 1.5 years.
Arrest & Incarceration:
Randy founded Threedollardvd.com to sell Counterfeit DVDs and was arrested with American co-defendant Cody Abram Thrush and Thomas Davis. Police had estimated the group had sold 180,000 DVDs worth roughly $845,000 between November 2003 and July 2004.
Quote from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website:
"DVD pirate sentenced following ICE investigation—In February 2008, a local DVD pirate was sentenced to 48 months incarceration, three years supervised release and ordered to repay restitution to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) in the amount of $878,793 following an undercover ICE investigation worked jointly with Chinese authorities. Thomas Irving Davis Jr., a co-conspirator of Randolph Hobson Guthrie III, was identified as a result of a lengthy investigation that was the first joint IPR investigation by ICE agents and Chinese authorities, and the very first joint Sino-American undercover investigation. Called "Operation Spring", the investigation was initially launched in September 2003 by the ICE Resident Agent-in-Charge office in Gulfport, Miss. In April 2004, agents assigned to the ICE Attaché in Beijing reached out to Chinese authorities and began sharing information on the investigation. After months of joint investigation with ICE, Chinese authorities were able to develop sufficient evidence against Randolph Hobson Guthrie III to make an arrest. On Jul. 1, 2004, officers from the Economic Crime Investigation Department of the Chinese MPS and the Shanghai Public Security Bureau carried out enforcement actions in China that resulted in the arrest of six individuals, including two U.S. citizens, one being Guthrie. In addition, the enforcement actions in China led to the seizure of more than 210,000 counterfeit motion picture DVDs and approximately $67,000 in U.S. currency as well as 222,000 in Chinese Renminibi (RNB) currency. Chinese authorities also located and destroyed three warehouses that were being used to store counterfeit motion picture DVDs for distribution around the globe, including the United States."

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