<div> The alleged boss of the world's biggest online piracy site, Kickass Torrents, was hit with US criminal charges accused of distributing over USD 1 billion worth of illegally copied films, music and other content.<br /><br />The Justice Department unveiled a criminal complaint against Ukrainian national Artem Vaulin, 30, who was arrested in Poland and is wanted by the US for copyright infringement, money laundering and other charges.<br /><br />Vaulin is alleged to own Kickass Torrents or KAT, which in recent years has eclipsed Pirate Bay and others to become the world's biggest source of pirated media.<br /><br />The US criminal complaint said the website offers "a sophisticated and user-friendly environment in which its users are able to search for and locate content" which is protected by copyright.<br /><br />KAT, which distributes films, video games, television programs, music and other electronic media, is estimated to be the 69th most frequently visited website on the internet, according to a Justice Department statement.<br /><br />"Vaulin is charged with running today's most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over USD 1 billion of copyrighted materials," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.<br /><br />"In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits.<br /><br />"His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice."<br /><br />Polish border guard spokeswoman Agnieszka Golias told AFP Thursday that Vaulin was arrested at Warsaw's Chopin airport yesterday "during an attempt to enter Poland".<br /><br />US officials will seek to extradite Vaulin to face charges filed in a federal court in Chicago, which ordered the seizure of one bank account and seven domain names associated with the file-sharing website.<br /><br />The complaint said officials were able to track and identify Vaulin from records provided by Apple on his iCloud account.<br /><br />According to the complaint, KAT operates in 28 languages and has made available movies that were still in theaters along with other content, earning revenue from advertising throughout its site.<br /><br />The website's value is estimated at more than USD 54 million, with annual advertising revenue in the range of USD 12.5 million to USD 22.3 million, according to the complaint.<br /><br />KAT has moved its domains several times after being blocked in Britain, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Belgium and Malaysia, according to the complaint, and has relied on a network of computer servers located around the world, including in Chicago.<br /><br />Recently, the website allowed users to download illegal copies of recent hit movies such as "Captain America: Civil War," "Now You See Me 2," and "Finding Dory."<br /><br />Vaulin, who used the screen name "tirm," was involved in designing the original website and ran the site which has been operating since 2008 through a Ukrainian-based front company called Cryptoneat.</div>
<div> The alleged boss of the world's biggest online piracy site, Kickass Torrents, was hit with US criminal charges accused of distributing over USD 1 billion worth of illegally copied films, music and other content.<br /><br />The Justice Department unveiled a criminal complaint against Ukrainian national Artem Vaulin, 30, who was arrested in Poland and is wanted by the US for copyright infringement, money laundering and other charges.<br /><br />Vaulin is alleged to own Kickass Torrents or KAT, which in recent years has eclipsed Pirate Bay and others to become the world's biggest source of pirated media.<br /><br />The US criminal complaint said the website offers "a sophisticated and user-friendly environment in which its users are able to search for and locate content" which is protected by copyright.<br /><br />KAT, which distributes films, video games, television programs, music and other electronic media, is estimated to be the 69th most frequently visited website on the internet, according to a Justice Department statement.<br /><br />"Vaulin is charged with running today's most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over USD 1 billion of copyrighted materials," said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell.<br /><br />"In an effort to evade law enforcement, Vaulin allegedly relied on servers located in countries around the world and moved his domains due to repeated seizures and civil lawsuits.<br /><br />"His arrest in Poland, however, demonstrates again that cybercriminals can run, but they cannot hide from justice."<br /><br />Polish border guard spokeswoman Agnieszka Golias told AFP Thursday that Vaulin was arrested at Warsaw's Chopin airport yesterday "during an attempt to enter Poland".<br /><br />US officials will seek to extradite Vaulin to face charges filed in a federal court in Chicago, which ordered the seizure of one bank account and seven domain names associated with the file-sharing website.<br /><br />The complaint said officials were able to track and identify Vaulin from records provided by Apple on his iCloud account.<br /><br />According to the complaint, KAT operates in 28 languages and has made available movies that were still in theaters along with other content, earning revenue from advertising throughout its site.<br /><br />The website's value is estimated at more than USD 54 million, with annual advertising revenue in the range of USD 12.5 million to USD 22.3 million, according to the complaint.<br /><br />KAT has moved its domains several times after being blocked in Britain, Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Belgium and Malaysia, according to the complaint, and has relied on a network of computer servers located around the world, including in Chicago.<br /><br />Recently, the website allowed users to download illegal copies of recent hit movies such as "Captain America: Civil War," "Now You See Me 2," and "Finding Dory."<br /><br />Vaulin, who used the screen name "tirm," was involved in designing the original website and ran the site which has been operating since 2008 through a Ukrainian-based front company called Cryptoneat.</div>