Il Cho, 47 and resident of Chalan Kanoa, appeared in court with his counsel Bruce Berline while the federal government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric O’Malley.
The court accepted the plea agreement.
U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Alex R. Munson ordered the defendant to remain at liberty under the same conditions previously set by the court.
Munson scheduled the pre-sentence investigation report for Oct. 28, 2008 and the sentencing for Dec. 2, 2008 at 9 a.m.
Cho pleaded guilty to the charges of trafficking in counterfeit labels during the hearing on Thursday.
The charges involved making or manufacturing labels that appeared to be genuine but were in reality unauthorized copies of motion pictures.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years jail term, a maximum fine of $250,000, and a maximum term of three years supervised release.
Cho and his co-defendant 51-year-old Min Jo were charged with one count of counterfeiting labels for 13 different movies from Sept. 28, 2007 until March 26, 2008.
They were also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement, and one count of copyright infringement.
According to the indictment, the two defendants, of Dreams Inc., a company doing business as Seoul Video, reproduced and distributed unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.
Both defendants who were managers of Seoul Video would rent unauthorized copies of movies to customers at $2 per movie, or sell unauthorized copies in VCD, DVD or VHS formats. The original copies were believed to be obtained from South Korea.
