Brooklyn DA Cracks Down On Nollywood Counterfeits
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - We've all heard about the counterfeiting of Hollywood films, but Nigerian films?
WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reports New York has become a million dollar market for the counterfeit Nigerian film business.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes is investigating this illegal trade and seized over 10,000 counterfeit DVDs this week.
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WCBS 880 Reporter Irene Cornell gets details on Nollywood counterfeiting
The villains of this drama are the shop owners mostly in Flatbush who are pedaling these bootleg DVDs, said Hynes.
Actor Jim Iyke, a big movie star in Nigeria, said he feels robbed.
"And to think that at the the end of the day you expect to get some sort of return for all your hard work and then it ends up in some basement and there is a bootlegger somewhere that is ripping off from what he didn't sow. The film industry can not be quantified," said Iyke.
He says he is delighted that the Brooklyn DA is coming to the rescue with Operation Nollywood.