When you're the owner of the world's biggest torrent-sharing site, the last thing you'd expect to land you in trouble would be a totally legitimate (and legal) purchase via iTunes. But that's what happened to 30-year-old Ukrainian Artem Vaulin a.k.a "tirm," owner and operator of KickassTorrents (KAT), who was yesterday arrested and charged in Poland for criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. He's been accused of illegally reproducing and distributing hundreds of millions of copies of movies, video games, TV shows and music albums totalling more than $1 billion. The US is now waiting to extradite him.
Founded in 2008, the site has slowly grown to become the biggest torrent-sharing website in the world. It finally took the mantle in 2015 after The Pirate Bay experienced multiple raids, battled lengthy spells of downtime and its three founders were arrested. KAT counts more than 50 million unique monthly visitors and is estimated to be the 68th most frequently visited website on the internet -- according to Alexa.
In a 48-page criminal complaint (PDF) filed with the U.S. District Court in Chicago, the U.S. Attorney's Office reveals how it was able to track Vaulin. Jared Der-Yeghiayan, a special agent with the US Department of Homeland Security, was tasked with tracking the man behind KAT and it's his report that attempts to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Vaulin should be brought to justice. This is how it played out.
valar morghulis
