Feds Go After Porn-Troll Lawyers

[de officiis]

Feds charge porn-troll lawyers in major fraud, extortion case in Minneapolis

University of Minnesota law grads Paul Hansmeier and John Steele made millions suing people who feared exposure for downloading porn or couldn't afford to battle them in court.

A Minnesota lawyer who has drawn scorn for his tactics in filing porn copyright lawsuits and disability litigation has been indicted alongside a longtime partner in a multimillion-fraud and extortion conspiracy that counted as its victims hundreds of people nationwide and the court system itself.

Authorities arrested Paul Hansmeier, 35, of Woodbury, and John L. Steele, 45, an attorney in Illinois who was a former classmate of Hansmeier’s at the University of Minnesota Law School, shortly before U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger announced charges Friday morning. . . .

They were charged Wednesday in an 18-count indictment with running a multimillion-dollar extortion fraud scheme between 2011 and 2014. The charges . . . include conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit and suborn perjury and conspiracy to launder money.

“In order to carry out the scheme, the defendants used sham entities to obtain copyrights to pornographic movies — some of which they filmed themselves — and then uploaded those movies to file-sharing websites in order to lure people to download the movies,” the indictment says.

...
“These lawsuits were a sham,” Luger said. “In fact, the lawyers were effectively the clients and the lawyers had concocted the facts that gave rise to the very lawsuits that they filed — lawsuits that were nothing more than a shakedown.”

Two more shining examples of the legal profession...

[Speaker to Animals]

Looks like they need legit lawyers now.

[doc_loliday]

From an arstechnica article.


"The defendants in this case are charged with devising a scheme that casts doubt on the integrity of our profession," said US Attorney Andrew Luger in a statement.

[Penner]

I briefly heard about this case ( from Reddit) and were they extorting money from people who were shame about looking/downloading porn, or what excatly were they doing?

[Okeefenokee]

Looks like they need legit lawyers now.

+1

[de officiis]

I briefly heard about this case ( from Reddit) and were they extorting money from people who were shame about looking/downloading porn, or what excatly were they doing?

The firm's modus operandi as described in the ruling and media coverage, was to threaten individual members of the public with litigation (hence public exposure) over allegations that they breached copyright during pornographic downloads (based on a "statistical guess" according to the court).[4]:FOF.10 p.5[13] The firm would then offer to settle the case (silently) for a little below the cost of an active legal defense,[4]:1–2 in what was described by the court as an "extortion payment".[14] Cases with robust defendants and non-profitable cases were dropped.[4]:FOF.6 p.4, FOF.10 p.5 At times the firm acted for client corporations whose filed papers contained discredited signatures and identities found false by the courts – commenters characterized the firm's plaintiffs as often (though not always) being shell companies operated for the firm and/or attorneys' own benefit[10][15][16] a Federal District court described Prenda's principal attorneys in 2013 as "engaging [a] cloak of shell companies and fraud",[4]:p.2 and comments of "shocking" and apparent "shell game activity" by Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judges at the inability or refusal to describe relationships between the law firms, "clients" and principals,[17] An expert witness [13] affidavit stated that IP addresses linked to Prenda's Minnesota and Florida offices and John Steele, had themselves been identified in 2013 as the initial "seeders" (sharers) of some pornographic media, tagged for "fast" sharing on file-sharing networks, which would be followed up by threat of legal action,[13][18][19] with Prenda as the pornography producer or copyright purchaser, file sharer (offeror), plaintiff, and plaintiff's attorney; the suspect IP, linked to unauthorized media distribution, was confirmed as Steele and Hansmeier's by Comcast.[20] In some cases hacking was alleged, or claims that the defendant was one of hundreds or thousands of "co-conspirators" for whom non-party subpoenas and discovery were sought;[21]:Items 2–4,8,14 in one case the defendant testified he was in effect offered an ultimatum to act as a "sham"[22] defendant and collusively[22] agree to be sued.[23][24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law

[Penner]

I briefly heard about this case ( from Reddit) and were they extorting money from people who were shame about looking/downloading porn, or what excatly were they doing?

The firm's modus operandi as described in the ruling and media coverage, was to threaten individual members of the public with litigation (hence public exposure) over allegations that they breached copyright during pornographic downloads (based on a "statistical guess" according to the court).[4]:FOF.10 p.5[13] The firm would then offer to settle the case (silently) for a little below the cost of an active legal defense,[4]:1–2 in what was described by the court as an "extortion payment".[14] Cases with robust defendants and non-profitable cases were dropped.[4]:FOF.6 p.4, FOF.10 p.5 At times the firm acted for client corporations whose filed papers contained discredited signatures and identities found false by the courts – commenters characterized the firm's plaintiffs as often (though not always) being shell companies operated for the firm and/or attorneys' own benefit[10][15][16] a Federal District court described Prenda's principal attorneys in 2013 as "engaging [a] cloak of shell companies and fraud",[4]:p.2 and comments of "shocking" and apparent "shell game activity" by Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judges at the inability or refusal to describe relationships between the law firms, "clients" and principals,[17] An expert witness [13] affidavit stated that IP addresses linked to Prenda's Minnesota and Florida offices and John Steele, had themselves been identified in 2013 as the initial "seeders" (sharers) of some pornographic media, tagged for "fast" sharing on file-sharing networks, which would be followed up by threat of legal action,[13][18][19] with Prenda as the pornography producer or copyright purchaser, file sharer (offeror), plaintiff, and plaintiff's attorney; the suspect IP, linked to unauthorized media distribution, was confirmed as Steele and Hansmeier's by Comcast.[20] In some cases hacking was alleged, or claims that the defendant was one of hundreds or thousands of "co-conspirators" for whom non-party subpoenas and discovery were sought;[21]:Items 2–4,8,14 in one case the defendant testified he was in effect offered an ultimatum to act as a "sham"[22] defendant and collusively[22] agree to be sued.[23][24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law

Thanks de o for posting that info.

[de officiis]

Jonathan Turley weighs in...

As disgusting as these lawyers may have been, they are only the most obnoxious standouts in an area of tremendous abuse due to copyright and trademark laws. We have been discussing a disturbing trend in copyright and trademark claims over things occurring in public or common phrases or terms. ... We have often discussed the abusive expansion of copyright and trademark laws. This includes common phrases, symbols, and images being claimed as private property. ... This included a New York artist claiming that he holds the trademark to symbol π. We are seeing these claims multiply because Congress has repeatedly caved into a powerful lobby in Washington expanding these protections and has done nothing to rein in their copyright and trademarks firms. We have previously discussed how President Obama has repeatedly yielded to the “copyright hawks” who have steadily increased the penalties for copyright and trademark violations, including criminal penalties. Despite the abuse of average citizens by thuggish law firms and prosecutors, the Obama Administration continues to support draconian measures against citizens. The result is that firms may routinely send out these thuggish threats and claim ownership to such things as the skyline of New York city. It is small business and average people who are being victimized because they do not have any comparable lobby in Congress.

https://jonathanturley.org/2016/12/23/l ... ht-scheme/

[robepriority]

....


Downloading porn?
As a file?
Is there an advantage to this at all?

Last I checked you can just stream it, and what they have for download is probably lower quality too.

[de officiis]

"Last you checked?"