Five owners of unauthorised streaming networks have been sentenced to prison, according to the Premier League. According to reports, three pirate streaming companies gave illegal access to view matches of the English top flight and charged £10-a-month for offering the live streaming.
In five years, fraudulent businesses like Flawless, Shared VPS, and Optimal (also known as Cosmic) made more than £7 million from over 50,000 subscribers, offering matches not available for streaming on UK TV. The combined sentence for the five defendants at Chesterfield Justice Centre is 30 years and 7 months in prison.
Premier League describes the crackdown as ‘largest-ever prosecution of its kind’
More than 50,000 users and resellers were unlawfully served Premier League matches and other content by three companies operating under the names Flawless, Shared VPS, and Optimal. Over a five-year period, Mark Gould, 36, Steven Gordon, 46, Peter Jolley, 41, Christopher Felvus, 36, and William Brown, 33, earned more than £7 million ($8.6 million).
Gould, who the court characterised as the conspiracy’s driving force, received an 11-year prison term, while the other four defendants received sentences ranging from three to more than five years. All five accused were jailed at Chesterfield Justice Centre after being found guilty of conspiring to cheat, money laundering, and contempt of court, according to the Premier League, making it the world’s largest-ever prosecution of its sort.
In a their official statement, the Premier League said:
“The illegal streaming businesses involved more than 50,000 customers and resellers, and 30 employees, one of which was positioned undercover at a specialist anti-piracy company. The organisations offered illegal access to watch Premier League matches, hundreds of channels from around the world and tens of thousands of on-demand films and TV shows.
“All but one of the defendants, including Mark Gould [age 36 from London] who masterminded the operation and was one of the original co-founders, eventually pleaded guilty to all charges against them. Gould, who was described by the Judge as the driving force of the conspiracy, was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
“William Brown [age 33 from Stoke-on-Trent], who pleaded not guilty, falsely claimed to have been an undercover informant acting in the interests of law enforcement authorities and broadcasters.
“However, he was instead using his expert technical skills to hack legitimate customers’ accounts to access and copy streams and intended for them to take the blame if identified by the authorities. In February this year, following a seven-week trial, Brown was unanimously found guilty by the jury.
“The investigation and prosecution by the Premier League also found significant evidence of other serious criminality. Christopher Felvus [age 36 from Pontypool] has subsequently been convicted of multiple unrelated offences, including being in possession of indecent child imagery.
“In addition, materials seized from Gould resulted in his further arrest by the Metropolitan Police as he attempted to leave the country. He is now the subject of another ongoing separate criminal investigation, which the Premier League is assisting. In handing down the sentences, the Judge described a sophisticated offence involving significant planning and expertise, which involved the hacking of legitimate customers in the UK and abroad.”
Investigators from the Premier League confiscated computer equipment and records pertaining to the operation when they searched the houses of Flawless’ masterminds. Mark Gould, the “prime mover” of the group, made an astounding £1.7 million off of the scheme.
He was discovered handcuffed at his riverfront apartment in Greenwich, South London, surrounded by heaps of Doritos bags and Domino’s pizza dips. Up to 30 set-top boxes streaming streams were discovered at the property, according to Doug Love, the Trading Standards officer who oversaw the operation.