Alleged owner of world’s most visited BitTorrent site arrested

Robert AbelJuly 21, 2016

A Ukrainian man was arrested Wednesday in Poland for allegedly owning and operating one of the world's largest BitTorrent distribution sites.

On Wednesday, authorities arrested 30-year-old Artem Vaulin and charged him for his alleged involvement with Kickass Torrents, a.k.a. KAT, according to a July 20 Department of Justice press release.

U.S. officials will seek to extradite Vaulin to the U.S. where he will face one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement, the release said.

“Vaulin is charged with running today's most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said in the release.

Authorities also seized domain names associated with the website and if convicted, Vaulin faces more than 20 years in prison.

Robert Abel

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Alleged owner of world’s most visited BitTorrent site arrested

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