Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Memphis, TN – Steven R. Hale, 37, of Memphis, appeared before United States District Court Chief Judge Sheryl H. Lipman on May 27, 2025 and entered a guilty plea to criminal copyright infringement in one case and to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in another case. Interim United States Attorney Joseph C. Murphy, Jr. announced the guilty pleas today.
According to information presented in court, from approximately May 2019 to March 2022, Hale worked for a multinational company in Memphis that, among other things, manufactured and distributed DVDs and Blu-rays of movies. From approximately February 2021 to March 2022, Hale stole hundreds of “pre-release” DVDs and Blu-rays, that is, discs being prepared for commercial distribution in the United States and not available for sale to the public. Hale’s theft included DVDs and Blu-rays for such popular films as “F9: The Fast Saga”, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage”, “Godzilla v. Kong”, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”, “Dune”, and “Black Widow”. Hale then sold the discs through e-commerce sites.
As a result of Hale’s illegal activities, at least one pre-release Blu-ray, “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, was “ripped” — that is, extracted from the Blu-ray by bypassing the encryption that prevents unauthorized copying — and copied. That digital copy was then illegally made available over the internet more than a month before the Blu-ray’s official scheduled release date. Copies of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” were downloaded tens of millions of times with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars. In his plea agreement, Hale agreed to make full restitution to his victims and return approximately 1,160 stolen DVDs and Blu-rays he unlawfully possessed.
In addition, Hale also unlawfully possessed a Sarsilmaz 9mm firearm that was loaded with one live round in the chamber and 13 rounds in the magazine. Hale has a prior felony conviction for armed robbery in 2008 for which he served seven years’ imprisonment.
Hale is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Chief Judge Sheryl H. Lipman on August 29, 2025. There is no parole in the federal system.
The two cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Memphis Police Department. Senior Counsel Matthew A. Lamberti and Trial Attorney Debra Ireland of the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Raney Irwin for the Western District of Tennessee are prosecuting the cases.
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