*A federal jury in Las Vegas convicted five men for operating Jetflicks, described as one of the most extensive illegal streaming services in the country.
According to Variety, court documents reveal that the five men—Kristopher Dallmann, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi, and Peter Huber—employed “sophisticated computer scripts” and software to download illegal TV episodes from piracy websites. According to federal prosecutors, they then used Jetflicks to host the titles.
Jetflicks charged customers $9.99 monthly, generating millions in subscription revenue. The streamer’s programming was larger than the combined catalogs of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime Video.
The platform, launched in 2007, caused “substantial harm to television program copyright owners,” the Justice Department stated.
In 2019, the five men were charged with conspiracy to violate federal criminal copyright law. The jury found each guilty of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement.
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Per Variety, Dallmann was also convicted of “two counts of money laundering by concealment and three counts of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement,” the outlet writes. He faces 48 years in prison. Courson, Garcia, Jaurequi, and Huber each face five years in prison.
“The defendants operated Jetflicks, an illicit streaming service they used to distribute hundreds of thousands of stolen television episodes,” principal deputy assistant attorney general Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a June 20 statement. “Their scheme generated millions of dollars in criminal profits, while causing copyright owners to lose out. These convictions underscore the Criminal Division’s commitment to protecting intellectual property rights by prosecuting digital piracy schemes and bringing offenders to justice.”
Motion Picture Association senior EVP and global general counsel Karyn Temple also reacted to the verdict.
“The Motion Picture Association applauds the Department of Justice for its successful prosecution of five individuals who brazenly and illegally profited by infringing upon copyrighted works,” Temple said.
“The jury’s conviction underscores the criminal nature of these types of offenses and the significant harms caused to the creative industry and the tens of thousands of workers who earn a living from key industry roles, including set designers, caterers, hair and makeup artists, and camera operators, to name a few.”
A sentencing date has yet to be set.
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