Prenda Law Porn Attorney Disbarred Friday by Ethics Complaint - Money Laundering

[Bladewire]

This sucks.

Tubes sites deal in stolen content and welcome theft to take money away from content owners killing our industry and these guys get taken out by a technicality.

The people stole their content , downloaded it and redistributed it, but because of a technicality these attorneys get thrown the book while XVideos, Xtube, Pornhub and all the rest are filled with stolen content, including some of mine which I have to take the time to report today.

John Steele, one of the masterminds behind the Prenda Law "copyright trolling" scheme, has been disbarred

John Steele, one of the masterminds behind the Prenda Law "copyright trolling" scheme, has been disbarred. Court papers indicate that Steele agreed to the disbarment, which was announced by the Illinois Supreme Court on Friday.

Steele pled guilty in March to federal fraud and money laundering charges. Over the course of several years, Steele said he and a co-defendant, Paul Hansmeier, made more than $6 million with "sham entities" that threatened Internet users with copyright lawsuits.

Along with Hansmeier and a now-deceased attorney named Paul Duffy, Steele "conspired to extort settlement funds from thousands of Internet users in a multi-jurisdictional copyright litigation scheme," Illinois attorney regulators said in a statement of charges. "Specifically, they attempted to exact settlements from users who allegedly infringed on the copyrights of certain pornographic movies, including movies that Mr. Steele himself produced and distributed."

Steele and Hansmeier uploaded their movies to file-sharing sites like The Pirate Bay and then sued users who downloaded the content. They also hid the fact they were their own clients, often owning the shell LLCs that were the copyright owners. They avoided trial but subpoenaed Internet service providers to get subscriber information. They would then barrage the accused subscribers with letters and phone calls, threatening "enormous financial penalties and public embarrassment unless they agreed to pay a $3,000 settlement fee."
Steele has yet to be sentenced. His former partner Hansmeier lost his law license last year. Steele has agreed to cooperate in the feds' case against Hansmeier, who is still contesting the charges against him.

The Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission filed an ethics complaint against Steele 21 months ago. The charges are summarized in the court papers related to disbarment, available on the IARDC website and printed out on the Fight Copyright Trolls blog.

[Matt 26z]

He offered something that he owned for free (by putting it on torrents) and then collected settlements from the people who took it (by claiming copyright infringement).

He got what he deserved.


Here bladewire take my candy bar........ THIEF PAY ME MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bladewire]

Money laundering and forging documents are not good, I do not support that, I just read that in this article below. I actually forgot about the more devious parts of what they'd done, but I like that they went after stolen content distributors.

Prenda?s massive trolling take revealed: $1.9 million in 2012

As part of his argument showing his relative distance from the scheme, Gibbs has evidence showing Steele and Hansmeier's firm links to Prenda. That includes a spreadsheet showing Prenda's income from the "pirates" as being more than $1.9 million in 2012. Steele and Hansmeier collected about $1.3 million of that, according to Gibbs.

The spreadsheet, which was e-mailed to Gibbs in January of this year, has a section labeled "payment to old owners." Steele and Hansmeier were paid directly and also through a company they jointly owned called "Under the Bridge Consulting," according to Gibbs. He claims he was told in a telephone call that Under the Bridge is owned by Steele and Hansmeier. "The name 'Under the Bridge' presumably refers to a place where trolls congregate," notes Gibbs in a footnote.

The spreadsheet doesn't include payments that may have come from other Prenda accounts, "or settlements that may have bypassed Prenda completely."

Steele and Hansmeier have stated repeatedly they had no ownership stake in the Prenda enterprise. Steele even filed a bar complaint against Gibbs specifically stating "I never had an ownership interest in Prenda Law Inc.," and that he never had an ownership interest in Prenda shells like AF Holdings and Ingenuity 13. Gibbs titled the section of the motion introducing the financial evidence, "New Evidence of Lies and Fraud by Steele and Hansmeier."

A secret interest

And the $1.3 million they were paid directly isn't all, notes Gibbs.

Overall, Hansmeier received $645,821.29?$185,321.28 directly and $460,500.00 through Under the Bridge. Steele received $660,915.94, of which he got $200,415.94 directly and $460,500.00 via Under the Bridge.

Those sums don't include "tens of thousands of dollars in additional payments to or on behalf of Steele and Hansmeier for travel and entertainment, meals, credit card charges, and miscellaneous reimbursements, or payments to Steel?s wife, Kerry Eckenrode Steele," notes the motion. It also does not include payments totaling $37,069.56 to Prenda lawyer Paul Duffy or Duffy Law Group.

The spreadsheet doesn't show exactly how the money flowed into the accounts. It simply lists the money flowing in from the copyright settlements as coming from "pirates," not specifying which Prenda shell handled the money. The spreadsheet doesn't list the individual settlement sums collected by Prenda either, most of which were a few thousand dollars or less. The money transfers shown on the spreadsheet as coming from "pirates" are big lumps of money, in several cases $100,000 or more at a time.

"Steele and Hansmeier were the primary beneficiaries of settlement payments to Prenda Law, giving them a compelling, if secret, financial interest in all aspects of Prenda?s operations and litigation," concludes Gibbs.

[The Porn Nerd]

Wow they got a LOT of gullible people to make millions off $3000 a pop.

[celandina]

Too bad, I would let them make money for/from every thief watching stolen content....I bet these thieves had "brown pants" when they paid these guys and probably will never watch stolen content again. I call their effort a public service...

[xXXtesy10]

please list program or owner use them in here

who is AF Holdings LLC?

[Struggle4Bucks]

Originally Posted by Matt 26z

He offered something that he owned for free (by putting it on torrents) and then collected settlements from the people who took it (by claiming copyright infringement).

He got what he deserved.

So only the fucking government has the right to provoke? By pretending to be buyers of drugs? To park a car with the keys in it and wait for a thief? etc, etc, etc?

[C H R I S]

What a dick... though this was a short lived business model.

[baddog]

This sucks?

Dude, you need help; put down the pipe.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by Struggle4Bucks

So only the fucking government has the right to provoke? By pretending to be buyers of drugs? To park a car with the keys in it and wait for a thief? etc, etc, etc?

Exactly, only they can entrap criminals

Abuse of power

[JFK]

Originally Posted by C H R I S

What a dick... though this was a short lived business model.

but many people got fucked

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd

Wow they got a LOT of gullible people to make millions off $3000 a pop.

Lots of gullible people stealing content and uploading for illegal redistribution

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by JFK

but many people got fucked

This is true, wasn't it just the thieves who got fucked though?