Five Men Convicted for Operating Jetflicks, a Mega Streaming Service
TL/DR –
Jetflicks, an illegal streaming service, offered users unlimited shows on various platforms for a $10 monthly subscription. The service was run by five men who obtained content from pirate sites and had more than 37,000 paid users at its peak. The operators of the service face prison sentences and authorities estimate the damage to legitimate program owners to be in the millions.
Illegal Streaming Service Jetflicks Faces Major Legal Repercussions
Jetflicks, a streaming service offering too-good-to-be-true features, is confirmed to be too good to be legal. Its $10 monthly subscription allowed users to watch shows on multiple platforms just days after their original release. However, authorities have revealed that Jetflicks’ operation involved systematic content theft and unauthorized distribution to subscribers, said assistant director David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office.
The operation was run by five men: Kristopher Dallmann, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, Jared Jaurequi, and Peter Huber. The indictment revealed their methods of acquiring content from pirate sites like SickRage, Sick Beard, SABnzbd, and TheTVDB, pooling it into one place for subscribers. With over 37,000 paid users and 183,200 television episodes, Jetflicks caused estimated monetary damage to program owners in the millions.
Similar to legitimate businesses, Jetflicks faced challenges like the sharing of logins and passwords by subscribers. The group attempted to mask its operation as an aircraft entertainment service when facing demands to eliminate unlicensed content. After seven years of operation, one member even branched out to start a competing service, officials reported.
The group had a structured organization, where Dallmann managed operations with Courson and Jaurequi’s assistance. They handled strategic decisions, recruitment, vendor and payment processing engagement, while programming and coding duties were taken care of by Dallmann, Polo, and Huber. The maximum penalty each faces varies, with Dallmann potentially facing 48 years in prison as per the DOJ. The sentencing date is yet to be announced.
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