TF has put out a bio on file-sharing giant MegaUpload’s owner Kim Schmitz, and it is apparently very lucrative to own the site.
Schmitz, who has been convicted in the past of insider trading, computer fraud and embezzlement, has just purchased New Zealand’s most expensive home, for $20 million USD.
“Kimble,” as he is sometimes referred to, was born in 1974, and by 1998 had been given two year’s probation for hacking into corporate networks. In 2001, Schmitz scammed stock traders by announcing he would invest 50 million euro in the verge-of-bankruptcy company Letsbuyit.com, although he did not have the money to do so. He did, however, hold hundreds of thousands of shares at a low price. The scam netted Kimble $1.5 million in profits, and an insider-trading conviction a year later.
Schmitz has also pulled multiple PR stunts such as faking his own death and offering $10 million for the capture of Osama Bin Laden. He has also admitted to bribing police officers, driving at 240 km/h on public roads in Belgium, and even smashing a friends car off the road during a race.
Kimbke owns a Rolls-Royce Phantom with the license plate GOD.
It will be interesting to see how long the record labels and movie studios let Schmitz continue his high-rolling days.
Result for: probation
The website PiracyIsACrime has announced the launch of their Warez Bust Database which provides an easy to search database if you are looking for any arrests attributed to piracy crimes.
The post, from the site reads:
“I get a lot of questions regarding people in the present and past that were involved with the warez community in one way or another. I have put this database together to answer those questions. The goal of the database is to be able to search by Real Name, Group Name, or Nickname, and to be able to find out what happened to that person, his sentencing, and to read court documents if available.
I have spoken too many of the people on the database and they all agree with me: getting involved with warez is just not worth it. That is the entire point of this website. Companies get paid millions of dollars to lobby the government to go after the warez community. This is very real and it’s not going away any time soon. It’s just not worth it.
You will notice some very interesting cases in the database. Foe example, a supplier for a warez group might get a lesser of a sentence then a person who just downloaded for personal use. Or a trader gets jail time but the leader of a very large music group gets off with probation.
If you are in this database and wish to be removed, please email database@piracyisacrime.org.
Bugs in the database:
1) no way of starting a new search, for a new search keep pressing your BACK button or just go back to www.piracyisacrime.org.
2) Missing a lot of people, I have some 170 people added but am still missing a lot more. This gets very expensive to find a document (and download) court documents. Give me some time, will be here soon =)
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Result for: probation
Richard Craig Lissaman of Calgary has become the first Canadian convicted under new movie pirating legislation for his decision to film the movie “Sweeney Todd” at a local movie theater last year.
Lissaman pleaded guilty on Friday and was sentenced to 12 months probation and a large fine of $1500 CAD.
The guilty party is now also banned from going to any movie theater as well as from owning video recording equipment (including a cell phone with the capability) while he is on probation.
Judge Skene said that Lissman’s crime was comparable to someone shoplifitng a cart of meat knowing that they will resell it for a profit.
“You can say he and his pals will watch the movie, but he has an item that is more supportive of taking something to be used to make a profit,” said the judge.
“It’s not a simple theft of an item for personal consumption.”
The motion picture industry was delighted by the ruling and admitted they spent six months investigating before having the authorities arrest Lissaman.
“Canada is a hotbed of movie pirating, which is a billion-dollar loss to the movie industry,” Mark Christiansen, executive vice-president of operations for Paramount Picture’s motion picture distribution.
“The perception is that Hollywood stars are the only ones hurt by this, but it affects everybody who works in theatres.”
Virginia Jones, director of policy and legal affairs for the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, added, “We would have liked to see jail time, sending a stronger message. We hope this is just a starting point.”
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