Entertainment giants Disney, Paramount, and Warner Bros. joined Bell and Rogers in a lawsuit against a father and son from Woodbridge, Ont. The companies all claim that the pair illegally pirated shows and movies and made them available to subscribers, making millions of dollars in the process.
Federal courts allege that Antonio Macciacchera and his son Marshall brought in revenues of about $1.5 million from thousands of subscribers worldwide using their platform SmoothStreams (SSTV). The streaming giants estimate that in 2021, there were about 2.5 million visits to the service, which was being hosted in Hong Kong and Panama.
However, this lawsuit has been going on for a while. The investigation started in 2018 before proceeding through the federal courts. The police executed civil search warrants in Barrie and Woodbridge, during which investigators uncovered evidence of an operation running out of Marshall’s home and commercial property. Police seized TV receivers, encoders, and servers.
Bell and Rogers still believe that the two are withholding information, mainly documents and passwords, related to SSTV. During the search warrants, Marshall was fined $375,000, and Antonio was ordered to pay $95,000 after the duo withheld the location of two residential properties and a commercial property from authorities.
The telecoms are seeking a penalty of up to six months in prison for the contempt, and have suggested it continue until the father-son duo provide the documentation they’ve been ordered to give to investigators. However, Antonio suggested a 30-day sentence to be served on weekends or 30-days of house arrest, while Marshall suggested one week per clear failure to comply.
The pair are set to face penalty hearings later in June.
Source: Vaughan Citizen
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
