Rehan Ahmed has been jailed for three and a half years after operating a large-scale counterfeit vinyl record manufacturing operation. Over seven years, he produced approximately 200,000 fake albums of popular artists including The Beatles, Madonna and Ed Sheeran, selling them to record shops, high street retailers and collectors. The operation caused significant financial damage to the creative industries, with the British Phonographic Industry estimating tens of millions of pounds were leeched from artists and record labels.

Ahmed's scheme was uncovered when the British Phonographic Industry carried out a test purchase and discovered copyright infringement. A subsequent police raid on his manufacturing plant in Acton, west London, resulted in the UK's largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl records, with officers recovering nearly 3,000 records, four vintage vinyl presses, 3,000 metal stampers and approximately 18 tons of evidence. He distributed the records under the company name Phoenix of Vinyl using rudimentary techniques and 70-year-old equipment, generating an estimated £2.7 million from the operation.