Nevada jury convicts five men for running illegal streaming site
By Kevin Sheridan
Jun. 20, 2024
The website would eventually create a catalogue larger than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime combined.
www.kolotv.com
A Las Vegas jury has found five men guilty of running an illegal streaming website.
The DOJ says Jetflicks was one of the nation’s largest illegal streaming services, generating millions in revenue.
The court found that, as early as 2007, Kristopher Dallman, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi, and Peter Huber operated the online, subscription-based service.
The DOJ says Jetflicks used sophisticated computer scripts and software to scour pirate websites for illegal copies of television episodes that they then downloaded and hosted on their servers. They would eventually reproduce hundreds of thousands of copyrighted episodes, amassing a catalogue larger than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime combined.
Dallman and his co-conspirators made millions from the website, according to the DOJ.
“The defendants operated Jetflicks, an illicit streaming service they used to distribute hundreds of thousands of stolen television episodes,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “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.”
The five men were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. Additionally, Dallman was also convicted of two counts of money laundering by concealment and three counts of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement.
Courson, Garcia, Jaurequi and Huber all face a maximum of five years in prison. Meanwhile, Dallman faces a maximum of 48 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set.