A computer programmer who helped run the nation's largest illegal television streaming service has been convicted by a Nevada jury, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
According to the Department of Justice, Yoanie Vaillant, 43, a U.S. permanent resident, used a Las Vegas online subscription service that allowed users to stream and download copyrighted television episodes without the owner's permission. He reportedly worked as a computer programmer for the service Jetflix.
He was convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, becoming the eighth and final defendant to be convicted in the case.
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People watching live TV programs. As the entertainment landscape changes, streaming services have entered homes. (St. Petersburg)
Las Vegas-based Jetflix claimed at one point to have 183,285 different TV episodes, far more than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, or any other licensed streaming service. authorities said. Prosecutors said the service often made episodes available to subscribers, sometimes the day after they first aired on TV.
According to a Department of Justice news release, this massive scale of copyright infringement “impacts every significant copyright holder of U.S. television programming, costing the U.S. television and streaming industries millions of dollars.” “I brought it to you.”
Vaillon was one of eight defendants indicted in Virginia in 2019 for operating JetFlick. His co-defendant, Darryl Polo, also a computer programmer, pleaded guilty to four criminal copyright counts and one count of money laundering and was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.
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FILE – Aug. 10, 2022, FBI seal on a wall in Omaha, Nebraska. (AP Photo/Charlie Neighborgal, File)
Luis Villarino pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and was sentenced to one year in prison.
In February 2022, the case was transferred to the District of Nevada for trial, after which Mr. Vaillon's case was severed from the remaining five defendants (Dallman, Jaureki, Douglas Courson, Felipe Garcia, and Peter Huber). All were tried in Las Vegas.
The five were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, and Dallman was also found guilty of three counts of criminal copyright infringement and two counts of money laundering by concealment.
This photo illustration shows the Netflix logo. (Getty Images)
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Mr. Dalman, Mr. Courson, Mr. Garcia, Mr. Jaureki, Mr. Huber, and Mr. Vaillon are scheduled to be sentenced in February.
The case is the largest Internet copyright infringement case in terms of the amount of works infringed and the first illegal streaming case ever to go to trial, prosecutors said.
