The alleged founder and owner of KickassTorrents (KAT), the world’s largest BitTorrent distribution site, has been arrested in Poland and faces extradition to the US.
In a statement sent by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to, and published by, Ars Technica, assistant attorney general Caldwell said: “(Artem) Vaulin is charged with running today’s most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials.
“In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits. His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice.”
Ars Technica notes that prosecutors have formally charged Vaulin, who is from Ukraine, with one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.
Like The Pirate Bay, KAT does not host individual infringing files but rather provides links to .torrent and .magnet files so that users can download unauthorized copies of TV shows, movies, and more from various BitTorrent users.
The DOJ will shortly seek Vaulin’s extradition to the US.
