LOS ANGELES: The world's largest sports pirating site, Streameast, is no more.
The illegal streaming giant was terminated in Egypt after a sting operation, according to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, one of the country's largest antipiracy coalitions. Egyptian law enforcement and ACE shut down the service Aug 24 following a yearlong investigation.
Streameast had 80 associated domains and amassed more than 1.6 billion visits during the past year. It offered access to sports' biggest events, including Europe's football championships, the NFL, NBA, MLB, pay-per-view boxing and F1 races. It garnered an average of 136 million monthly visitors, primarily based in the US, Canada, the UK, the Philippines and Germany.
"With this landmark action, we have put more points on the board for sports leagues, entertainment companies, and fans worldwide – and our global alliance will stay on the field as long as it takes to identify and target the biggest piracy rings across the globe," said Charles Rivkin, chairman of ACE and head of the Motion Picture Association, in a press release.
Two men were arrested about 20 miles outside of Cairo under suspicion of copyright infringement. Authorities confiscated devices, including laptops and smartphones thought to be operating the site, cash and several credit cards. Investigators also identified a shell company possibly used to launder the advertising revenue, which totalled to around US$6.2mil (RM26.1mil), and an investment of US$200,000 (RM843,899) in cryptocurrency. Several properties in Egypt were also allegedly purchased with these funds.
In addition to working with local Egyptian authorities, ACE's investigation was aided by Europol, the US Department of Justice, Office of the US Trade Representative and National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Centre, according to the Athletic's reporting.
All sites previously associated with Streameast will be redirected to ACE's "watch legally" page, which provides links to authorised streaming video providers. This announcement comes a day before the NFL's regular season kicks off. – tca/dpa
