German authorities have seized €25 million worth of cryptocurrencies from the operators of a pirate streaming site Movie2K.
Authorities have seized 2,500 BTC from the operator, a sum that is worth around $29 million as well as some Bitcoin Cash from the operators. The website is said to have illegally streamed numerous movies and TV shows as well as lure investors into “subscription traps” to generate revenue.
Movie2k
Around seven years ago movie2k.to was one of the most popular websites on the internet. The website was the 19th most popular website in Germany boasting more traffic than Amazon, Twitter, and Apple.
However, the website suddenly shut down at the end of May 2013 with no prior notice.
The website earned revenue through two ways with both of them being illegal. The website generated income through advertisements on the pirated streams and through subscription traps. The latter occurred when users signing up for a service would end up “trapped” in a supposed contract they were not told about.
The schemes worked in favor of the operators and allowed them to amass around 22,000 BTC ($253 million)
Operators arrested
In November last year, two men were arrested under the suspicion of being the operator of the pirate website. A third man was arrested under the charges of money laundering offenses.
Now, German authorities have confiscated a fraction of their fortune with help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It is alleged that the operator mainly spent his cryptocurrencies to purchase properties and according to local news outlet Tarnkappe, authorities have also seized the properties.
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