Five men received sentences of up to seven years in prison for operating Jetflicks, described as one of the largest illegal paid TV show streaming services in the United States, with servers that were also based in Canada.
The men from Las Vegas were sentenced on May 29 and 30, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday. It said the RCMP “provided significant assistance” in helping the FBI and other U.S. officials in the investigation.
“This scheme generated millions of dollars in criminal profits, and hurt thousands of U.S. companies and individuals who owned the copyrights to these shows but never received a penny in compensation from Jetflicks,” said Matthew Galeotti, acting assistant attorney general at the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division, in a statement Tuesday.
The Department of Justice called it the largest internet piracy case, and the first illegal streaming case, to go to trial. Jetflicks allegedly at one point offered 183,285 TV episodes, according to U.S. officials, surpassing licensed streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime.
The U.S. government said it “conservatively estimated” the value of the copyright infringement at US$37.5 million.
How did Jetflicks work?
Jetflicks, based in Las Vegas, was an online subscription-based service that allowed tens of thousands of paid subscribers throughout the United States to stream and download TV content without permission from copyright owners, according to the press release, citing court documents and evidence shown at the trial.
The convicted men used automated software and computer scripts that constantly scoured sites with pirated content, the release stated. The software and scripts would then make the illegal content available on servers in the U.S. and Canada, often the day after the shows originally aired on television, the press release added. The service worked on the internet and on many types of devices, platforms and software.
Who was convicted?
A 14-day trial in Nevada, which ended in June 2024, resulted in the following individuals receiving convictions for conspiracy to commit copyright infringement:
-Kristopher Lee Dallmann, 42;
-Peter H. Huber, 67;
-Jared Edward Jaurequi, also known as Jared Edwards, 44;
-Felipe Garcia, 43;
-Douglas M. Courson, 65.
Dallmann was also convicted of criminal copyright infringement by distribution, criminal copyright infringement by public performance, and money laundering, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
