20th Century Fox got a nasty April Fools Day surprise when an unfinished version of the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie was leaked onto BitTorrent. 20th Century Fox quickly issued a statement that was the equivalent of a war cry, and the FBI raided a Texas data center, allegedly to obtain records related to Wolverine's spread.

Wolverine first leaked to BitTorrent on April Fools Day, reportedly in DVD quality. This version is said to be incomplete, however, with a number of missing scenes, unfinished special effects, and scores from other films spliced in for portions of the soundtrack. Nevertheless, the leaked Wolverine was promptly downloaded over 75,000 times within the first few hours of its premature Internet debut. 20th Century Fox issued a statement later that day about the leak, acknowledging that an "early version" of Wolverine has been "posted illegally on websites." The studio also fired a warning shot across the bow of whoever leaked it, stating that "we forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it." Fox also mentions that the MPAA and FBI are investigating the crime, and that it will "prosecute the source and any subsequent postings to the fullest extent of the law."

If Matthew Simpson, owner of Texas data center Core IP Networks, is right, Fox is indeed making good on its word. The FBI raided Simson's business and home yesterday on a search and seizure warrant, claiming "millions of dollars in computer equipment." The agency would not tell Simpson its exact reason for the investigation, only that it is "investigating a company that has purchased services from Core IP Networks in the past" which it used to pirate movies and software.

According to a letter Simpson posted online, he was in Arizona at the time of the raid. The FBI has "seized all equipment belonging to our customers," and even threatened to arrest customers who arrived at the data center to try and retrieve their computers. "Currently nearly 50 businesses are completely without access to their email and data," Simpson continues. "Citizen access to Emergency 911 services are being affected, as Core IP's primary client base consists of telephone companies."