The alleged owner of KickassTorrents (KAT) has been arrested in Poland, and charged with copyright infringement of more than $1 billion’s worth of games, films, music and other protected content.
Artem Vaulin from Ukraine was arrested in Poland, and the US is planning on launching a formal extradition bid so that he can face charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
In a pretty jubilant press release from the US Attorney’s Office, assistant attorney general Leslie R Caldwell said: “Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials. In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits. His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice.”
While the copyright charge has a maximum sentence of five years, the money laundering bit is far more serious, and has a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.
The 50-page affidavit includes more surprising details,
Mutual legal assistance treaties have been used to access foreign bank records. Apple also provided investigators with a copy of Vaulin’s email account, which seems to contain more incriminating information, although the press release is keen to remind people that “the defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt”.
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