Five men have been convicted by a jury in Las Vegas of operating what the U.S. government described as “one of the largest unauthorized streaming services in the United States.” The prosecution claimed the site, Jetflicks, “generated millions of dollars in subscription revenue while causing substantial harm to television program copyright owners.”
According to the Department of Justice, “the group reproduced hundreds of thousands of copyrighted television episodes without authorization, amassing a catalog larger than the combined catalogues of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime. [Kristopher] Dallmann and his co-conspirators made millions of dollars streaming and distributing this catalogue of stolen content to tens of thousands of paid subscribers.” The service supposedly generated millions in profits for the owners.
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At the trial, prosecution claimed that the men — Kristopher Dallmann, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi, and Peter Huber — used “sophisticated computer scripts and software to scour pirate websites for illegal copies of television episodes, which they then downloaded and hosted on Jetflicks servers.”
“Digital piracy is not a victimless crime,” said Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office. “As these convictions demonstrate, the FBI will indeed investigate those who illegally profit from the creative works of others.”
The five men in the case were convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, with Dallmann convicted of additional counts of money laundering by concealment and misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement. While the four other men could receive a maximum of five years in jail, Dallmann could wind up prison for up to 48 years. The men will be sentenced at a later date.
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