HULL, England – Four men have been convicted of counterfeiting pornographic DVDs after irate customers turned them in for selling videos that were “too short” and of “poor quality.”

Court records indicate former sex shop owner Fred Thompson, 69, oversaw an operation that illegally copied and distributed tens of thousands of adult movies worldwide via the internet and mail order. Operating under the business identities Fantasy Dome and Fantasy Dome Online, Thompson and three accomplices manned a full-scale industrial plant that not only reproduced the movies, but also faked the packaging, according to transcripts.

“This is not a case about the morality of porn or adult entertainment: Whether you like it or not, there is a market for legitimate porn and thousands of customers use it every day,” prosecutor Charlene Sumnall told the UK’s Daily Mail. “Those customers, like any others, deserve protection from being defrauded.”

Convicted with Thompson were his business partner Shaun Langley, Nigel Maw, 52, and David Maw, 31. The Maws, father and son, had agreed to buy the counterfeiting operation from Thompson and were working in the counterfeiting facility until the sale was finalized. A jury at Hull Crown Court convicted all four men of conspiracy to make and distribute illegal porn DVDs and defrauding customers.

“These are serious offences for which a sentence of imprisonment may well be passed, and this sentence will be immediate,” Judge Mark Bury told the defendants.

Sentencing is scheduled to take place in September. In the meantime, Thompson and his cronies are free on bail.

Thompson also faces charges of counterfeiting currency. During their raid on the DVD-counterfeiting operation, authorities also discovered £22,000 in fake £10, £20 and 50-euro notes, plus sheets of untrimmed notes and the equipment to reproduce the currency, inside the building that once housed Thompson’s Adultnation sex shop. Langley pleaded guilty to producing the counterfeit currency, but said he was working on orders from Thompson.

Thompson previously received a six-month jail sentence after the court found him guilty of possessing with intent to spend £2,380 in fake bills.