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As the rock n’ roll world continues to hold its collective breath in anticipation of Chinese Democracy -- the Axl Rose project labeled as a Guns N’ Roses album, despite the absence of any other original members – the story behind the ever elusive record took yet another bizarre turn earlier today.

A number of sources, including Billboard Magazine, are reporting the arrest of Kevin Cogill, on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws.

Cogill is accused of being the guy who leaked nine of the long rumored Chinese Democracy tracks to the internet earlier this summer, in what was reported to be at, or at least very near, final master quality recordings. This prompted a new round of rumors that the release of the album – which has been in the making for about a decade now – could finally be imminent.

The leaked tracks in question include "Rhiad and the Bedouins," "If the World," "Better," "The Blues," "Madagascar," "IRS," "There Was a Time," and the title track. According to the Billboard report, Cogill has also admitted that he was, in fact, the source of the tracks which first showed up on his blog, but soon spread widely across the Internet.

Meanwhile, there has been yet another round of speculation regarding the release of the perennially postponed album. The latest rumors have Chinese Democracy finally coming out this fall, and distributed through a exclusivity deal with mega-retailer Best Buy.

Guns N’ Roses (or in this case Axl Rose and whatever musicians he happens to be playing with at the moment) are clients of Azoff Management – who helped negotiate similar retail exclusivity deals for fellow clients the Eagles and Journey, which would seem to lend some credence to the latest Chinese Democracy release scenario.