US unveils charges against KickassTorrents, names two more defendants

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US prosecutors have now named a total of three men said to be operators of the defunct file-sharing site KickassTorrents (KAT). The new allegations are in a formal indictment filed Tuesday, which contains the most detailed charges against the site yet.

Last month, alleged site operator 30-year-old Artem Vaulin of Ukraine was arrested in Poland. The new indictment (PDF) also names Ievgen (Eugene) Kutsenko aka “chill” and Oleksander (Alex) Radostin aka “pioneer,” also of Ukraine. Bench warrants have been issued for the arrest of all three men, although authorities have confirmed the arrest of only Vaulin. The indictment was reported earlier today by TorrentFreak.

Prosecutors say the three men developed and maintained the site together and used it to “generate millions of dollars from the unlawful distribution of copyright-protected media, including movies… television shows, music, video games, computer software, and electronic books.” They gave out “Reputation” and “User Achievement” awards to users who uploaded the most popular files, including a special award for users who had uploaded more than 1,000 torrents.

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Source: Ars Technica – US unveils charges against KickassTorrents, names two more defendants