The Justice Department broadened its copyright infringement case against the KickassTorrents (KAT) website this week by formally charging three Ukrainian citizens in federal court.
A 16-count indictment filed Tuesday accuses Artem Vaulin, Ievgen Kutsenko and Oleksander Radostin of various crimes related to an alleged conspiracy centered around the torrent directory — the “most-visited illegal file-sharing website” in the world, according to federal prosecutors.
Mr. Vaulin, 30, was arrested in Poland last month after a federal complaint was unsealed in Chicago accusing him of charges related to the website including criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He remains in Polish custody while U.S. authorities seek his extradition, TorrentFreak reported Thursday.
In addition to those charges, the latest indictment filed in U.S. District Court this week accuses Mr. Vaulin and his previously unnamed co-defendants of using corporate shell companies and other evasive means in order to generate millions of dollars in illegal proceeds through the unauthorized distribution of copyright-protected music, movies, television shows and other media. – READ MORE
