WASHINGTON – Eight people have been charged with running two of the largest illegal television show and movie streaming services in the United States, according to the Department of Justice.
The two services allegedly offered more television programs and movies than legitimate streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and Amazon Prime Video. A federal grand jury returned the indictment Tuesday, charging eight people with conspiracy to violate federal criminal copyright law by running the unauthorized streaming service.
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The following people have been charged:
- Kristopher Lee Dallmann, 36
- Darryl Julius Polo, aka djppimp, 36
- Douglas M. Courson, 59
- Felipe Garcia, 37
- Jared Edward Jaurequi, 38
- Peter H. Huber, 61
- Yoany Vaillant, 38
- Luis Angel Villarino, 40
The group is accused of running Jetflicks, an online subscription-based service that was headquartered in Las Vegas. It permitted users to stream and occasionally download copyrighted television programs without permission from the copyright owners.
The company had tens of thousands of paid subscribers located throughout the United States. At one point, Jetflicks claimed to have more than 183,200 different television episodes.
One of the defendants, Polo, left Jetflicks and created a competing site based in Las Vegas called iStreamItAll (ISIA) that at one point claimed to have 115,849 different television episodes and 10,511 individual movies.
Dallmann was charged with two counts of criminal copyright infringement by reproduction or distribution, two counts of criminal copyright by public performance and four counts of money laundering. Polo was charged with two counts of criminal copyright infringement by distributing a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution, two counts of criminal copyright infringement by reproduction or distribution, two counts of criminal copyright infringement by public performance and four counts of money laundering.
Jetflicks allegedly obtained infringing television programs from pirate websites around the world. Some of the movies offered by ISIA were not available for sale, download or viewing outside a movie theater.