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U.S. prosecutors seized 16 websites that streamed live sports events on Friday, just two days prior to Sunday’s Super Bowl. A Michigan man was charged with running nine of those websites.
Yonjo Quiroa (AKA Ronaldo Solano), 28, faces one count of criminal infringement of a copyright and will likely not serve any prison time.
"These websites and their operators deprive sports leagues and networks of legitimate revenue" in what amounts to "virtual thievery," said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, who announced the website seizures.
The websites are firstrow.tv, firstrowsports.com, firstrowsports.net, firstrowsports.tv, hq-streams.tv, robplay.tv, soccertvlive.net, sports95.com, sports95.net, sports95.org, sportswwe.net, sportswwe.tv, sportswwe.com, xonesports.tv, youwwe.com and youwwe.net.
The complaint against Quiroa outlines his alleged piracy efforts from February 2010 to January 2012.
In an ironic twist, New England Patriots starting quarterback admitted to patronizing one of the seized sites.
Last year, you know, I was rehabbing my foot, you know, in Costa Rica, watching the game on an illegal Super Bowl website," he said in a video posted Thursday on the NFL website. "And now I'm actually playing in the game. So it's pretty cool."
The case is U.S. v. Quiroa, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-mag-00241.
Bharara was instrumental in the takedown of online poker behemoths FullTiltPoker.com, PokerStars.com and UB.com last April. Half a dozen executives from those firms were charged with money laundering and bank fraud in connection with the misrepresentation of gambling transactions through a St. George, Utah bank.
- Gilbert Horowtiz, Gambling911.com
