The Justice Department and the European Union\u2019s Eurojust agency on Wednesday brought charges against three individuals allegedly involved in an online piracy group that caused millions of dollars in losses for U.S. film studios.<\/p>\n
The men \u2014 Umar Ahmad, George Bridi and Jonatan Correa \u2014 were indicted on charges of copyright infringement, officials said, adding that they were involved in the Sparks Group, an international organization that engaged in piracy and illegally distributed films and television shows online<\/p>\n
Bridi, a citizen of the United Kingdom who was also charged with wire fraud and the interstate transportation of stolen property, was arrested in Cyprus earlier this week by Interpol, and U.S. authorities plan to request his extradition. Ahmad, a citizen of Norway, has not yet been found by authorities, while Correa was arrested in Kansas on Tuesday, officials said.<\/p>\n
All three men face up to five years in prison if convicted on the copyright infringement charges, while Bridi faces a potential 25 additional years in prison.<\/p>\n
The three men are alleged to have been involved in the Sparks Group since 2011, with authorities noting that the group caused \u201ctens of millions of dollars\u201d in damages to film studios through the illegal distribution of films and television shows.<\/p>\n
The Sparks Group is alleged to have fraudulently obtained DVDs and Blu-ray discs ahead of their public release by lying to distributors and then using software to compromise the copyright protections on those discs, with the films and shows then uploaded to servers controlled by the Sparks Group.<\/p>\n
Most of the servers, which were located in more than a dozen countries, were dismantled as part of Wednesday\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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