*YouTube and Instagram influencer Omi in a Hellcat (born Bill Omar Carrasquillo) has been sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison in a cable piracy case.
We reported previously that Carrasquillo was indicted, along with two associates, for allegedly selling copyrighted cable network programs to thousands of subscribers via the Amazon Firestick.
Prosecutors said thousands of users paid a monthly fee to access premium cable TV and sports content through firesticks.
Carrasquillo, as well as Jesse Gonzales and Michael Barone, had to forfeit $35 million in assets after being charged with fraud, according to reports.
READ MORE: YouTuber Omi in a Hellcat Faces 5 Centuries in Prison for Firestick Scam! | VIDEO
Omi’s companies operated under various names, including Gears TV, Reboot, Reloaded and Gears. Online subscribers paid fees as low as $15 a month to access illegal content that he hijacked from cable boxes.
Carrasquillo was charged with conspiracy, violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, reproduction of a protected work, access device fraud, making false statements to a bank, income tax evasion, and money laundering. He pleaded guilty last year and on Tuesday (March 7), Carrasquillo was sentenced to 5½ years in prison for the illegal business. He was ordered to forfeit more than $30 million in assets, Inquirer reports.
“Thirty million dollars is a lot of money [but] tangible objects aren’t everything,” U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III said during the hearing in federal court. “You have a large following and there may be people who think if you can get away with it, they can too.”
Federal agents reportedly seized nearly all of Carrasquillo’s assets in a raid in 2019. His girlfriend’s bank accounts were also frozen.
“I really didn’t know the significance of this crime until I was picked up [by the FBI] at my home,” he said in court during the sentencing hearing. “I feel like I let everybody down.”
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