Paul Hansmeier, of Woodbury, Minn., was captured Friday in Minnesota, and John Steele, a Chicago lawyer, was captured in Florida. Government prosecutors said the match utilized sham elements to buy copyrights to explicit motion pictures, then sued individuals who supposedly downloaded the motion pictures, gathering about $6 million in settlements from 2011 through 2014.
As indicated by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the two are previous schoolmates at the University of Minnesota Law School. Minnesota U.S. Lawyer Andy Luger said the men’s direct was over the top and give occasion to feel qualms about the respectability of the legitimate calling. The men were charged Wednesday in an 18-tally prosecution that was unlocked Friday.
Neither one of the men had a lawyer authoritatively recorded in the court docket. A telephone call to a number recorded for Hansmeier went unanswered and no message could be cleared out. A number for Steele was not quickly accessible Friday.
Hansmeier has been suspended from providing legal counsel in Minnesota. Steele was charged in 2015 preceding by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for his part in the plan. The board’s protestation charged Steele and his accomplice sent “squeeze” letters to those associated with unlawfully downloading obscene motion pictures.
As per the Minnesota prosecution, the men utilized a few sham substances to acquire copyrights to obscene motion pictures, including some they shot themselves, then transferred those motion pictures to record sharing sites to draw others to download them.
At the point when the films were professedly downloaded, the men documented counterfeit copyright-encroachment claims, then coerced the gathered downloaders and undermined them with colossal money related punishments and open introduction unless they consented to a settlement. Judges across the country have censured the two men for their copyright-encroachment claims.