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 for his role in a counterfeit vinyl operation, according to London police. The investigation, conducted by the City of London Police's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit, uncovered a scheme that produced and distributed £1 million worth of fraudulent vinyl copies of albums by high-profile artists such as Taylor Swift, Coldplay, and Kendrick Lamar.
Ahmed was found guilty at the Inner London Crown Court of breaching artists' copyright and acquiring and using criminal property. The judge ruled that his sentences for the two charges would run concurrently.
Between 2017 and 2024, Ahmed is alleged to have generated an estimated £2,743,000 in profit from the counterfeit vinyl operation. The illicit records were produced and distributed from a facility in Acton, west London, under the name "Phoenix of Vinyl." In February 2024, search warrants led to the seizure of 2,791 vinyl records, lacquers, pressing equipment, and other materials. The counterfeit goods were sold on online marketplaces like eBay and Discogs, infringing the copyrights of 108 artists.
The case was referred to the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and represents the largest seizure of its kind in the U.K. The operation involved 18 tonnes of evidence, including four vintage vinyl pressing machines and thousands of sleeves and center labels. Peter Ratcliffe, the BPI's director of content protection, praised the conviction as "hugely significant" and thanked the investigative partners for their efforts.
However, he noted that the conviction cannot recover the tens of millions of pounds in losses suffered by artists, record labels, and the retail community. The BPI also highlighted that the vinyl market continues to grow, with 7.6 million units sold in the U.K. in 2025, marking a 13.3% increase year-on-year since 2008.
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