Man Sentenced to Prison After Counterfeit Vinyl Worth £1m Discovered by London Police
The investigating force estimates that Rehan Ahmed generated income of £2.7 million from the operation that ran from 2017 to 2024.
Rehan Ahmed, a 40-year-old man from Southall, west London, has been sentenced to over three years in prison after being found guilty of copyright breaches and possessing criminal property. The London police's investigation uncovered a counterfeit vinyl operation, valued at £1 million, which operated from a unit named "Phoenix of Vinyl" in Acton.
The operation produced fraudulent vinyl records of albums by popular artists such as Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Kendrick Lamar between 2017 and 2024, generating an estimated profit of £2,743,000. The case, which represents the largest seizure of its kind in the U.K., involved the seizure of 2,791 vinyl records, lacquers, pressing equipment, and 18 tonnes of evidence, including four 70-year-old vinyl pressing machines.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) praised the conviction, emphasizing that it sends a strong message to counterfeiters exploiting the music industry.
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