Frenchman jailed for 8 months for Taylor Swift

A warehouse worker at the French branch of vinyl pressing plant MPO was sentenced Tuesday (June 13) to eight months in prison for attempting to sell some copies of Taylor Swift’s July 2010 reissue of 2010 album Speak Now to the official Publication illegal to sell.

According to French newspaper Ouest-France, the 43-year-old temp worker was caught in the act trying to sell ten copies of the unreleased record online after disappearing from the warehouse with them.

Coincidence also played a role here, as the report states that several records fell out of a box while he was unpacking some pallets. As it is further said, the man had considerable debts and wanted to enrich himself. He placed a classified ad online and sold the album, which Swift had completely re-recorded, for an initial price of EUR 25 before increasing the price to EUR 50 after two successful sales.

However, the Frenchman was reported by a HR manager at MPO France and was reportedly trying to flee over the roof of his home when police arrived to arrest him.

The damage could be much greater

According to Charts In France, the man is a repeat offender who has been convicted 24 times of theft, fraud, drug trafficking and other offences. For this reason he received an eight-month prison sentence. He also has to pay the vinyl manufacturer back money. Representatives of the vinyl pressing plant said in the proceedings that “jobs and millions of euros are at stake” if Universal terminates the contract due to a leak.

Unpleasant for everyone involved: Two copies of the album are said to still be in circulation, which is why the authorities are now urgently asking for them to be returned (otherwise there is a risk of criminal prosecution).